NEW YORK — The Yankees-Crimson Sox rivalry, a historic feud operating on fumes lately, acquired a light-weight jolt from a rookie this weekend — and Aaron Choose took discover.
Boston right-hander Hunter Dobbins, a lifelong Crimson Sox fan from Texas and the workforce’s beginning pitcher Sunday, instructed the Boston Herald on Saturday that he’d reasonably retire if the Yankees had been the final workforce to offer him a contract.
Choose mentioned he was unaware of the remark till ESPN’s Eduardo Pérez relayed it to him earlier than Sunday’s collection finale.
“I’ve solely heard Ken Griffey say that so I used to be a bit of stunned,” Choose mentioned.
Just a few hours later, the Yankee captain smashed the primary pitch he noticed from Dobbins — a 98 mph fastball up and over the plate — for a mammoth two-run homer. The ball traveled 436 ft at 108.6 mph the opposite method to right-center subject. It was the second-longest opposite-field house run of Choose’s profession, two ft in need of the longest, in accordance with MLB researcher Sarah Langs.
After the sport, an 11-7 loss for the Yankees, Choose admitted moving into the batter’s field with Dobbins’ remark in thoughts.
“Properly, as soon as anyone tells you, yeah,” Choose mentioned.
Griffey, a first-ballot Corridor of Famer, insisted he would by no means have performed for the Yankees throughout his profession due to the best way he and his father had been handled by the group throughout Ken Griffey Sr.’s time with the Yankees. Ken Griffey Sr. spent four-plus seasons within the Bronx within the Eighties.
Throughout an in-game interview on ESPN, Jazz Chisholm Jr., who earlier than the sport vouched for extra trash-talking in baseball on social media, mentioned he appreciated Dobbins’ competitiveness however thought the remark was outlandish.
“I like competitiveness,” he mentioned. “However to say that, being a rookie, is sort of loopy to me, to say that you just’re gonna rule out one out of 30 groups to be an expert athlete.”
Dobbins rebounded from Choose’s blast to carry the Yankees to 3 runs on 4 hits by way of 5 innings regardless of not recording a strikeout as Boston took two of three video games within the rivals’ first collection of the season.
An eighth-round decide in 2021, Dobbins has a 4.20 ERA in 10 appearances (eight begins) with the Crimson Sox.
Choose added one other two-run homer within the ninth inning Sunday in opposition to right-hander Robert Inventory to conclude the night time’s scoring.
It was the reigning American League MVP’s forty third profession multi-home run sport, tying Lou Gehrig for third all-time in franchise historical past. Babe Ruth (68) and Mickey Mantle (46) high the record.
“Any time you get talked about with these legends, it is fairly an honor,” mentioned Choose, who’s batting .396 with a 1.264 OPS and now has 23 house runs on the season. “However it might’ve been sweeter to speak about it after a win.”
