The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are playing a close game on Friday.
After DJ LeMahieu‘s game-tying blast in the bottom of the eighth, the teams are tied at four runs apiece.
Boston scored three first-inning runs against Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole, and the Yankees answered with two in the bottom part of that initial frame, thanks to an Anthony Rizzo‘s two-run homer.
In the bottom of the fourth, however, the Yankees had tied the game with a Stantonian blast: yes, Giancarlo Stanton socked one of his signature home runs, leaving the park in a hurry at 116.3 mph.
Stanton 🚀 season is BACK
(via @Yankees) pic.twitter.com/CCkdEi405b
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) April 8, 2022
MLB’s Premier Threat To Hit The Ball Hard And Produce
Absolutely no one in MLB has Stanton’s ability to hit the ball hard, and when he does it in the air, well, big things happen.
The slugger has the hardest hit ball every year in the Statcast era, which started in 2015.
This time, he pounced on a Nate Eovaldi offering on the outside part of the plate, sending it to the right field bleachers to put the game at 3-3.
Stanton was severely affected by injuries in 2019 and 2020, but remains one of the best sluggers in the game and he reminded us of his offensive excellence last season.
In 2021, he was finally able to play a lot (138 of 162 games) and slashed .261/.345/.517 with 36 home runs and 97 RBI.
He was an integral piece in the middle of the Yankees’ lineup, and will fulfill a similar role in 2022 as long as he is healthy.
He is off to an impressive start, as his dinger was timely and absolutely necessary for the Yankees to tie the ballgame in the fourth.
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