With a comfortable lead down the stretch of the 2000 season, the Yankees could somewhat afford to go into cruise control. As it would turn out, they maybe did that a little bit too much and nearly blew their lead, but that wasn’t yet a problem on this day 25 years ago.
On this particular day, the Yankees won a game in Fenway Park while giving a debut to a potentially promising young pitcher and generally handled the Red Sox with ease.
September 10: Yankees 6, Red Sox 2 (box score)
Record: 82-58 (8.5 GA in AL East)
On the mound for the Yankees this day was someone called “Randy Keisler.” To be serious, Keisler was the Yankees’ second-round draft pick just two years prior in 1998. Between that and his fairly rapid rise through the system, there had to have been some amount of hope that he could someday become something for the Bombers. His day would end up being pretty good, but the Red Sox struck first. Having started the game with two walks, Keisler got on the verge of escaping the inning, aided by Darren Lewis getting thrown out trying to steal. However, Keisler fell behind against Nomar Garciaparra before allowing a two-out single to him, as Boston took an early lead.
The Yankees quickly struck back in the top of the second, though. Similarly, Boston’s Pete Schourek retired the first two Yankees in the second but kept the inning going by hitting Jorge Posada with a pitch. Scott Brosius made him pay by taking a ball over the Green Monster to give the Yankees the lead. An inning later, Derek Jeter took advantage of Fenway Park’s dimensions, reaching on a triple with a hit to deep center field. That allowed him to score via fielder’s choice when Bernie Williams hit a groundball in the next at-bat.
Keisler and Schourek, and some respective bullpen members, then managed to exchange zeroes for a while. The Yankees eventually picked up some insurance in the seventh inning. Rheal Cormier came in for the Red Sox for the frame and allowed a single to Chuck Knoblauch. While he then retired Jeter, Cormier walked Williams and then gave up an RBI single to José Canseco. Following a single from Glenallen Hill to load up the bases, Tino Martinez dropped in a double to plate two more runs and give the Yankees a comfortable lead.
In relief of Keisler, Dwight Gooden put in three scoreless frames. Joe Torre let him back out there for the ninth, where Garciaparra got him for a lead-off triple. The Red Sox shortstop then later came home on a Troy O’Leary groundout, but that was as close as Boston got to anything resembling a comeback. For his efforts in throwing the Yankees’ last four innings, Gooden got credited with a save. It was his second of the season, and the third and final one of his career. (His only save previous to 2000 actually came back in 1989, near to his prime.)
As for the debuting Keisler, he got the win, having allowed just one run in five innings, giving up just four hits and three walks. While that was an impressive debut and would’ve given hope for his future, Keisler didn’t end up having a long or illustrious big league career. He struggled in the minors and majors the following year and then missed all of 2002 with both a shoulder injury and then a literal rattlesnake bite. He would be released by the Yankees in 2003.
The victory took the Yankees lead in the AL East to 8.5 games with just about 20ish left in the regular season. Having won four in a row, it seemed only a matter of days until the Yankees officially clinched the division. As things actually turned out, this would be the last time they won more than two games in a row during the regular season, and it would not come until much later that they could actually celebrate the division crown.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.