The New York Yankees forfeited their World Series title run after a 6-5 Game 4 defeat to the Houston Astros on Sunday. Prior to playing the Astros at home, the Yankees watched the Boston Red Sox’s 2004 clip as an unusual source of inspiration in their bid to clinch a desperate win.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the team had watched the 2004 Red Sox clip before playing the Astros. That year, the Red Sox had a 0-3 deficit against the Yankees in the Conference Final before extending the series to Game 7.
Aaron Boone said that Chad Bohling, the #Yankees’ mental skills coach, was sending around highlight videos of the 2004 Red Sox this morning. Eduardo Perez also FaceTimed David Ortiz into Boone’s office pregame.
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) October 23, 2022
Despite conceding the first three games consecutively to the Yankees, Boston claimed the remaining four in to take on the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series title. The Cardinals were defeated and the Red Sox won their first title since 1918.
“We watched that video. We sent it out to the coaches and players,” Boone said Sunday afternoon.
The feat surprised fans as they became the only club in the MLB’s history to have aced the Series title after trailing three games behind the opposing team in the ALCS.
Before being eliminated by the Astros, the Yankees were in desperate need of extending the series past Game 4, which prompted the club’s director of mental conditioning, Chad Bohling, to send players and coaches the clip for inspiration. However, the Yankees’ effort was unfruitful.
Boone also admitted that ex-baseman Eduardo Perez had him on the line with former Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz for advice. However, when asked Sunday, Boone declined to reveal more about his exchange with Ortiz, who was there in 2004 when the Yankees were bested by his former team.
Yankees’ unfortunate end in ALCS
The Yankees started strong in the first two innings. Right fielder Giancarlo Stanton made an RBI single off from Lance McCullers’ pitch. Not long after, shortstop Gleyber Torres added another RBI for the Yankees before Astros slugger Chas McCormick missed Nestor Cortes’ pitch. Much later in the bottom of the second inning, Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo put the team on a 3-0 lead with his RBI double.
Unfortunately, Houston was quick to recover. In the third inning, Astros star hitter Jeremy Pena smacked a home run to the far left, which was later followed by a three-run for the team.
Pena’s hit set the game to a 3-3 tie, and he was later recognized by the MLB as one among six rookies to have hit a potential game-clinching homer. In the top of the same inning, first baseman Yuli Gurriel recorded an RBI single, which broke the game tie to 4-3.
Pena missed another hit in the inning when pitcher Wandy Peralta was on the mound. The momentum was used by Rizzo, who returned with an RBI single, setting the game to a 4-4 tie.
Yankees center fielder Harrison Bader extended the club’s lead to 5-4 in the sixth inning via his solo homer from Hector Neris’ pitch. The homer made him the fifth Yankees player to have at least five or more home runs in one postseason.
The Astros would only make other runs in the seventh inning. They recorded two runs, starting with left fielder Yordan Alvarez’s RBI single, followed by third baseman Alex Bregman’s go-ahead single.
The game wrapped up with a 6-5 win for the Astros and they will play the Philadelphia Phillies for this year’s World Series title.