The Boston Red Sox grabbed the upper hand in their AL Wild Card showdown thanks to a key swing from Masataka Yoshida , who revealed what was on his mind before his clutch hit in the Red Sox's 3-1 Game 1 win over the New York Yankees .

In a postgame piece published by MassLive’s Christopher Smith, the 32-year-old outfielder shared what he was anticipating when stepping into the box in the top of the seventh with two runners on.

“He kept throwing changeups to Sogie (Nick Sogard),” he told translator Yutaro Yamaguchi. “So I was kind of thinking that he might throw something hard and kind of up and in.”

The right call led to the right result. Facing Yankees reliever Luke Weaver, Yoshida took a 95.9 mph first-pitch fastball and sent it into right-center for a go-ahead two-run single.

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