The Red Sox used to consider themselves “Idiots” — now they’re calling the Yankees’ ace one.
After hitting the game-winning, ninth-inning homer off Masahiro Tanaka in the Red Sox’s 2-1 victory Saturday night, Napoli was heard on the FOX broadcast screaming, “What an idiot!” as he high-fived jubilant teammates.
The slugging first baseman was referring to Tanaka’s choice to throw him a belt-high fastball with two outs, nobody on base and a 1-2 count after his off-speed stuff had worked so well in his previous two at-bats — both strikeouts.
“Nothing toward him,” Napoli said later about Tanaka, against whom he has homered twice in just seven at-bats. “I thought he was gonna throw me a splitter.”
Instead, Tanaka went with the fastball and the first baseman deposited it just over the wall in right field to send the Red Sox to a victory they hope can help turn around what has been a disappointing season.
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“Luckily, we’re in Yankee Stadium, not anywhere else, and the ball goes out,” winning pitcher Jon Lester said.
With two outs and nobody on base in the ninth, Tanaka got ahead of Napoli. He shook off catcher Brian McCann twice, going to a fastball — the pitch David Ross had homered on in the second inning and which the Red Sox had hit hard earlier in the game.
“From the dugout, it looked like he felt he had enough power to throw a fastball by him and thankfully, it was a pitch up on the plate,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “Nap has come up big with some late-inning heroics with a ball out of the ballpark over the last couple years, whether it was here or at home, against New York.”
“He got me where he wanted me,” Napoli said. “I was hoping he was going to hang the split and I was trying to get something up in the zone.
“I’m just looking for something up. I’m just trying to be short [with my swing] in that situation, put the barrel on the ball and put it in play somewhere.”
Napoli’s blast made a winner out of Lester, who was brilliant over eight innings of five-hit ball. The only run Lester allowed was unearned, the result of a Stephen Drew fielding error to start the third, and he struck out six while walking two to earn his ninth victory of the season.
His biggest pitch came in the home eighth, after Brett Gardner led off with a walk. Lester fell behind Derek Jeter 3-1, but induced him into a 4-6-3 double play.