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New York Yankees get the Chance to stop Boston Red Sox

By Mike Shalin, The Sports Xchange
Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts fails to make a catch on a ball hit by the New York Yankees' Didi Gregorius in the first inning on July 1 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts fails to make a catch on a ball hit by the New York Yankees' Didi Gregorius in the first inning on July 1 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

BOSTON -- The struggling New York Yankees, down 0-2 in their weekend series against the sizzling Boston Red Sox, are taking a CHANCE on the mound Saturday.

Young right-hander Chance Adams will be officially recalled to make his major league debut and will face Nathan Eovaldi in the third game of the series.

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The Red Sox, a season-high 43 games above .500, scored 15 runs Thursday night and then got a one-hitter from Rick Porcello on Friday to increase their lead over their rivals in the American League East to 7 1/2 games. Former Yankee Steve Pearce has hit four home runs in the two games.

And now the visitors turn to Adams, who replaces J.A. Happ after the newly acquired left-hander came down with hand, foot and mouth disease and went on the disabled list.

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"Hopefully, he, as we've seen with a lot of our guys, they've come up and been able to handle these situations, and I think it's a tribute to our player development and our organization for preparing these guys for what it is to come up here and pitch in the fire and play in the fire," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before Friday night's game.

"Obviously, coming here to a big-time environment, hopefully we prepare them for all that, the outside stuff, and not just between the lines. But that said, it's his first start and there's always going to be jitters that go with that and that's part of it and dealing with it. Sometimes that can be something that works for you, and hopefully that's the case with Chance."

Adams got off to a slow start this season but has been solid in his last seven Triple-A starts -- 1-2 with a 3.06 ERA in that span, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his last start.

"We want to make it as normal for him as we can," Boone said after his team lost a third straight for only the second time this season.

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He goes against Eovaldi, the former Yankee who debuted with seven shutout innings for the Red Sox against the Minnesota Twins last Sunday.

"Very efficient, that stuff was above average," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said before Friday's game -- and before he was ejected in the first inning amid more potential bad blood between the teams. "We're talking about 97, 98 mph. Cutting the ball at 94, 95, split, breaking ball.

"He spotted his fastball in tough, tough spots in the strike zone to avoid damage. Great tempo. He competes, too -- you can tell. The fact that he can pound the strike zone with that stuff is very impressive."

Eovaldi is 4-4 with a 3.80 ERA this season. He is 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA in one game against the Yankees and is undefeated lifetime at Fenway Park -- 3-0 with a 4.01 ERA at Fenway.

The current Yankees are a combined 14-for-47 (.298) against Eovaldi, with Didi Gregorius 5-for-9 (.556) with a home run. Aaron Hicks is just 2-for-9 (.222) against him.

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These teams brawled the first time the Yankees visited Fenway this season and, after Porcello hit Brett Gardner with an 0-2 pitch and Luis Severino (another shaky start) threw up and in on the first pitch to leadoff hitter Mookie Betts. Warnings were issued to both benches. Cora came charging out of the dugout and was quickly tossed by plate umpire Adam Hamari.

He talked about the ejection after the game, saying he apologized to his family, but, wanting to move on, said, "I think the story has to be Porcello." The right-hander retired the last 21 batters and notched his 14th victory.

On April 12, Porcello allowed two hits and no runs to the Yankees and improved to 10-8 lifetime against New York.

"He was pounding the strike zone. I mean, strike one all night," Boone said. " ... He pitched really well. We hit six, seven, eight balls right on the screws ... but I thought we had a lot of good at-bats against him."

The Red Sox lost another second baseman during the game, with Betts, originally an infielder, playing much of the game at second base before moving back to right field. Newly acquired Ian Kinsler became the second Red Sox player in two nights to go down with a hamstring injury. Boston was reportedly placing Kinsler on the DL and summoning Tony Renda from Pawtucket, where he is batting .333.

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But Xander Bogaerts, who missed his second straight start with a right hand bruise, was able to enter the game in the field late, sending Brock Holt to second base and Betts back to the outfield.

Earlier Friday, the Red Sox placed Blake Swihart on the 10-day disabled list after he left Thursday's game, summoning Dan Butler from Pawtucket to take the open spot on the 40-man roster.

With Kinsler hurt, the Red Sox also could turn to veteran Brandon Phillips, who hit a walkoff homer for Pawtucket on Friday night but is batting just .204. Renda is hitting .333 for the PawSox.

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