There was a fantastic day of action in the MLB on Friday with the New York Yankees suffering a mighty beating at the hands of arch rivals Boston Red Sox, while the Cincinnati rookies were at it again against the Houston Astros.

Boston offense goes to town on Yankees

Friday night’s game at Fenway turned into a softball score after just a few innings. 

Domingo German, who was having a solid season, was shelled for 7 runs, 7 hits and 1 home run in just 2 innings. 

It was a hit parade for the Red Sox offense, who continued to smash the New York pitching for a total of 17 hits and 15 runs. 

The only Boston starter who did not record a hit was Rafael Devers, but since they ended up winning 15-5, it wasn’t too big of a deal. 

Justin Turner led the way for the Sox at the plate with 3 hits in 5 at-bats, which included two home runs, and Masataka Yoshida broke out of a minor slump in a major way with a 4-for-4 night with 3 RBIs. 

Arraez back on song

Luis Arraez was the talk of baseball a week ago with a .402 batting average, and every analyst compared his season to the one Ted Williams had in 1941 when he enjoyed a .406 batting average, and it might have gotten to Arraez. 

Miami’s best hitter struggled in the Seattle series and came into last night’s game with a .378 batting average. 

However, it didn’t take long for his average to creep back towards .400, thanks to a 5-for-5 night against Trevor Williams and the Washington bullpen. 

The contact hitter finished with 4 singles and his second home run of the season as Arraez’s outbreak at the plate helped put a bandaid on Sandy Alcantara’s poor outing and actually led Miami to a 6-5 win in the nation’s capital. 

But a concerning part of the victory was Alcantara, who was rocked for 5 runs on 10 hits in just 5.1 innings. 

His season ERA sits at 4.97, and he's nowhere close to being the NL Cy Young pitcher that we saw last season. 

If the Marlins are going to stay relevant in the NL East, they need Alcantara to figure it out.

Reds find another rookie star

The Cincinnati Reds just seem to keep getting younger and younger. 

Their lineup already featured several candidates for the NL Rookie of the Year, like Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz, but now their rotation might have found their new ace. 

Andrew Abbott is a 24-year-old rookie out of Virginia, and through 3 MLB starts, Abbott has a 0.00 ERA. 

In 17 innings, the lefty has allowed just 10 hits while striking out 12 batters. 

Friday’s start came against the reigning champs, the Houston Astros, and Abbott did not back down from the challenge, finishing with 4 hits allowed in 6 scoreless innings. 

Although he may not be the type of pitcher that racks up strikeouts, he has an excellent set of offspeed pitches that get a lot of weak contact from hitters. 

Abbott’s excellent start built the bridge to Alexis Diaz, who earned his 18th save in as many opportunities as the Reds beat the Astros 2-1.

Dodgers find Sheehan silver lining

Andrew Abbott isn’t the only rookie pitcher on the rise in the National League.

The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Emmet Sheehan to the mound for his MLB debut on Friday night, and it was about as good as you could hope for. 

Sheehan was taken out after 6 no-hit innings and just 89 pitches, and while you may be wondering why Dave Roberts took him out, it’s to keep his confidence high and save him for next time. 

The right-hander displayed an excellent fastball that seemed to rise on the hitters but also a nasty changeup that disappeared from left-handed hitters. 

However, the Dodgers were not able to get Sheehan his first win because the Los Angeles pen allowed 7 runs in the next 5 innings (the game went to extra-innings) and lost the game 7-5. 

But the silver lining of the game was Sheehan, who showed exceptional promise and potential in his first-ever MLB start after completely skipping Triple-A for this outing. 

Going from Double-A hitters to the San Francisco Giants is a massive jump, and Sheehan made it look like a speedbump.