Mookie Betts' 19th-inning sac fly ends longest Red Sox-Yankees game in 48 years
Josh Thomson
jthomson@lohud.com
It was both exciting, tedious and ridiculous at times, but after six hours and 49 minutes, the Red Sox beat the Yankees in 19 innings, 6-5.
Mookie Betts drove in Xander Bogaerts with the winning run on a sac fly off Esmil Rogers, who was in his fifth inning of relief. Bogaerts had singled, stolen second and moved to third on a passed ball by John Ryan Murphy.
It was the longest Red Sox-Yankees game since they played 20 innings on Aug. 29, 1967 -- still the longest game in the history of Yankee Stadium, past or present. In terms of time, it was the longest game in franchise history for the Red Sox and the second-longest for the Yankees.
The Red Sox nearly won this game three times. They led 3-2 with two outs in the ninth when Chase Headley took Edward Mujica into the seats in right. Boston finally regained the lead on David Ortiz's solo blast off Esmil Rogers in the 16th -- ending 10 scoreless innings by the Yankee bullpen -- but Mark Teixeira answered to lead off the bottom of the inning. Ironically, with the solo homer coming after midnight, it came on Teixeira's 35th birthday.
The Red Sox regained the lead again in the top of the 18th on an RBI single by Pablo Sandoval. But the Yankees tied it again on back-to-back doubles by Headley and Carlos Beltran, whose line drive to left field was misjudged by Hanley Ramirez. Boston then went ahead for good in the 19th, and won when a double play helped erase Jacoby Ellsbury's leadoff single.
Adam Warren will make his first start since Sept. 27, 2013 when the teams play against tomorrow later today at 1:05.