LONDON — Major League Baseball packaged its sport in full in its first foray into Europe — the ball flew and the game lasted nearly as long as the reign of Lady Jane Grey (look it up).
The fans, nearly 60,000, brought enthusiasm, balanced cheering and endurance. The last was particularly needed. The first MLB game in London marathoned at 4 hours, 42 minutes — three minutes short of the longest nine-inning game in history, which was also Yankees-Red Sox.
Players spoke of field turf that played fast like in Toronto and St. Petersburg, Fla., alleys that felt endless like in Coors Field and spacious foul territory like in Oakland, but on steroids. That, combined with whatever is going on with the flying baseball and whatever jet lag lingered for the pitchers, helped produce the most runs in a major league game this season (30) on 37 hits.
Midway through, the Yankees led by 11 runs, both managers pulled players in a tacit concession understanding and home plate Ed Hickox appeared to begin calling a wider strike zone to move events along — yet nothing could stop the scoring or seemingly end this game. The final was Yankees 17, Red Sox 13, a score familiar to the NFL, which has been coming to this city since 2007.
But this is baseball. At least baseball this season. And this is what was exported in the attempt to try to make fans (and customers) out of a new market. Will it work? Well, for Game 1 of this two-game event the crowd was exuberant and about two-thirds stayed until Didi Gregorius made a terrific play to initiate a game-ending double play.
“It felt like a soccer match, but with baseball,” said the Netherlands-born Gregorius. “The fans were into it.”
This was the 2,200nd game between the Yankees and Red Sox — 2,223 counting the playoffs — and it would have been bizarre had it been played in The Bronx or Fenway Park. The first game of The Rivalry was May 7, 1903 — a few weeks later Bob Hope was born — between the Highlanders (Yankees) and Americans (Red Sox). Never since had both teams scored as many as six runs in the first inning. But at London Stadium, the Yankees took a 6-0 lead to knock out starter Rick Porcello before the Red Sox also tallied (tally-hoed?) six to oust Masahiro Tanaka.
The teams combined to go 10-for-15 with four walks and six extra-base hits, including two homers, in a first inning that lasted 58 minutes. The tone was set for a hot afternoon that turned into a sticky evening, and went into the record books as the first game on this side of the Atlantic.
“It felt like an exhibition, a spectacle, but obviously we knew we had to win,” Adam Ottavino said.
The Yankees did for the 12th time in 13 games, extending their MLB record with a homer in a 30th straight game. There were six homers between the teams, including blasts by Aaron Hicks (the first ever by an MLB player in Europe), Brett Gardner (which broke the 6-6 tie) and Aaron Judge. DJ LeMahieu demonstrated he can hit on any continent with four more knocks, including the first in Europe leading off the game and two with the bases loaded to drive in five runs and improve to 7-for-9 this year with the sacks full.
LeMahieu’s hitting was familiar. What was different?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited the clubhouses and were presented small jerseys for their newborn, Archie. The royals then participated in a first-pitch ceremony shortly after a large Union Jack and the American flag were presented on the field with the national anthems for both countries. The mascot race was won by the large head of Freddie Mercury and The Freeze came from Atlanta to, of all things, lose his warning-track race to a local.
The first few innings found outfielders on flies and infielders on cutoffs awkwardly pursuing balls. Many of the seats in the stadium are white and the sun set behind home plate, causing a white baseball to get lost in the background. That could be a bigger problem with an even earlier start Sunday in the London Series finale, except if scheduled clouds roll in.
“It felt like a World Series game,” Gardner said. “There was high intensity.”
And lots of pitches, 422 of them, delivered over more than four hours, with the ball jetting around like any ballpark, this one just happened to be in London. This is baseball in 2019 — wherever it is played.