"If the Yankees were the last team to give me a contract, I'd retire." That's a bold statement for Boston Red Sox rookie right-hander Hunter Dobbins to have made ahead of his first start against the New York Yankees. Well, it's safe to say that he backed up the trash talk at the end of the day.
It's bold for anyone to talk smack to this extent, but for Dobbins, a 25-year-old rookie with nine MLB appearances and seven MLB starts under his belt, to make a statement like this, he really had to back it up. By delivering a quality outing against the Yankees and departing in line for his third MLB victory, it feels safe to say that he did that.
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Hunter Dobbins backed up intense trash talk with strong outing vs. Yankees
What makes this even more impressive for Dobbins is that at first, it looked as if this quote would be looked at in memes for years to come. Just two batters into the game, the Yankees got out to a 2-0 lead thanks to an Aaron Judge home run. There's no shame in giving up a home run to the best hitter on the planet, but there is shame in throwing that hitter a pitch to crush, which Judge predictably did.
As bad as that pitch was, though, Dobbins was able to settle in after the fact and give the Red Sox a really nice outing. He retired 13 of the next 14 batters before DJ LeMahieu hit a solo shot off of him in the fifth inning. He was able to get the next batter out, completing five innings on the night.
Overall, the line was solid. He didn't strike a single batter out, but Dobbins held this Yankees team that leads the American League in runs, home runs, and OPS to three runs on four hits in five innings. He even out-dueled Carlos Rodon, a pitcher who might make the AL All-Star team, in the process, and was pulled with his team ahead 7-3. He also threw just 64 pitches, so he could've gone further had the Red Sox wanted him to.
Was this the best start in the world? Of course not, but considering the opponent, how the game started, and the comments he made pregame, it was rock solid, especially for a guy making his eighth career start. Dobbins now has a 4.20 ERA overall and looks like a decent back-end starter for this Red Sox team. If he continues to pitch like this, he might have enough offers to not even need the Yankees to offer him a deal to continue playing.