The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox warned new British fans not to expect 30 runs every game after serving up an offensive explosion in the first Major League Baseball game to be played in Europe.
The Yankees eventually prevailed 17-13 at the London Stadium in a game which saw the teams pile up 37 hits and six home runs between them, scoring 12 in a first inning that took 58 minutes alone as the game lasted more than four-and-a-half hours in total.
Anyone among the season-record 59,659 crowd watching for the first time may have confused this arcade version of the game for a sport which, in its purest form, should be a pitching battle.
The @Yankees win the first MLB game ever on European soil. #LondonSeries pic.twitter.com/r02GJKe1aa — MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2019
"I actually spent some time thinking about that during the game," said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. "I was looking out to the crowd and wondering, they must be thinking, 'This is pretty long'.
"But cricket takes all weekend to play, right? A lot of people are used to it. They saw a lot of great hitters do some great things and some really good defensive plays as well.
"But we should remind them there's not 30 runs every game."
Both teams scored six in the first inning before the Yankees powered their way into a 17-7 lead. That should have been enough to kill off Boston, but the Red Sox scored six in the seventh to threaten a late rally.
Old Rivalry. New Ground. @yankees win game one of the #LondonSeries. Who's ready to do it all again tomorrow? pic.twitter.com/Sv37Ad3GTt — MLB London (@mlblondonseries) June 29, 2019
"I guess it's one of those games that people love, people love offence," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "We know we have to do a better job in terms of getting people out, avoiding the big inning.
"Hopefully tomorrow is a more controlled game in terms of runs and we give the people from London a closer game. Those are cool too."
The tight dimensions of this makeshift ballpark – at just 385 feet to the centrefield wall the smallest in baseball – no doubt contributed, but neither team pitched well, with both starters chased from the game before the end of the first inning.
"Obviously it was a struggle for both sides in the pitching department," Boone added. "It just felt like a lot of good hitters taking advantage of some mistakes."
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