Mookie Betts 4-for-4, Grand Slam Lifts Boston Over Yanks; Stephen Strasburg Hurls Nats Past Braves

Players of the Day for Tuesday, April 10, 2018

American League

Betts: 4-4, 5R, GS, 4RBI

Opening a three-game series, the Yankees and Red Sox renewed their legendary rivalry on Tuesday at Fenway Park, but, other than Aaron Judge, the Yankees turned out to be largely spectators as Boston beaned the Bombers, 14-1.

Making life difficult for Yankee pitchers was Mookie Betts, Boston's leadoff hitter, who went 4-for-4 with a walk, scored five times and socked a grand slam, capping a nine-run sixth inning that put the game out of reach.

Chris Sale cruised through six innings, scattering eight hits and one earned run for his first decision of the season.

Betts, whose effort put him atop the majors with a .432 batting average, started the Sox off with a leadoff double, scoring the initial run in the first inning, singled and scored in the second, walked and scored in the fourth, doubled and scored in the sixth before his slam in the same inning completed the rout.

The Yankees will try to forget their game one flop when they meet Boston in game two, Wednesday night at 7:10 pm EDT. 9-1 Boston leads the AL East by two games over the Blue Jays. The Yankees are 4 1/2 back, at 5-6.

National League

Strasburg: 8 scoreless

For the second time in as many games, the Washington Nationals scored in the first inning and rode their starter's arm to victory over the Atlanta Braves.

On Monday, Max Scherzer shut out the Braves. Tuesday's mound heroics were performed by Stephen Strasburg, who shut out the opposition on three hits over eight innings, after Ryan Zimmerman's triple put two on the board for Washington en route to a 4-1 victory.

Strasburg improved to 2-1, walking two and striking out eight. After allowing a Dansby Swanson single in the second, Strasburg didn't allow another baserunner until Ender Inciarte singled with one out in the sixth, setting down 12 straight.

Swanson doubled in the only run for the Braves in the ninth, off reliever Ryan Madsen.

Strasburg is working on back-to-back 15-4 seasons, and is off to a solid start with a 2.21 ERA and 21 strikeout victims in 20 1/3 innings.

The Nationals improved to 6-5, tying them with the Braves for second place in the NL East. Both teams are trailing the red-hot Mets, who won their seventh straight with an 8-6 comeback win at Miami. The Mets are 9-1 and lead the division by 3 1/2 games.

The Nationals will be looking for the series sweep Wednesday when A.J. Cole takes the mound against Atlanta's Brandon McCarthy at 1:05 pm EDT in Washington, DC.