Normally when the Red Sox bring in Hideki “Darkman” Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon come into the game, good things happen for them. Unfortunately Sunday night was not one of those nights as the Yanks got to each them for a run and went on to defeat the Red Sox 6-5 in a game that ended in a light rain.
Darkman came in to pitch in the 8th inning and faced his countryman, Hideki Matsui, to lead off. Matsui lined a single to right and came around to score when Robinson Cano crushed a ball into the triangle for a triple, scoring Matsui to tie the game at 5.
Papelbon was in for the 9th and retired the first two hitters he faced, Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu. With two strikes on him, AROD took a Papelbon offering and planted it in the Yanks bullpen giving the Yanks a 6-5 lead.
The Red Sox brought their big bats to the plate in the 9th inning against Mariano Rivera but were unable to score. David Ortiz crushed a ball to right field but didn’t get enough as Bobby Abreu caught it on the warning track. Rivera then struck out Manny on a cutter. Rivera then hit Youk on a ball that rode up and in on him. Mike Lowell came to the plate with a chance to be a hero but was struck out by Mariano to end the game.
The Yanks got to Beckett for a run in the second inning. A hip hip Jorge Posada double, a Matsui single and a single to shallow center by Josh Phelps, who was playing first due to Doug Mientkiewicz’s injury, brought in Posada giving them a lead of 1-0.
The score remained the same until the 5th inning when the Yankees tacked on 3 more runs against Beckett.
Phelps led off with a single and advanced to second on a Melky Cabrera single. After Damon flew out, Derek Jeter grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Phelps at third. Abreu drew a walk to load them up for AROD. AROD then hit a ball that Lowell barehanded and he tried to throw out AROD at first but the throw was low and hit Youk in the knee causing it to get away. This brought in Melky and DJ giving the Yanks a 3-0 lead. Posada followed that up with a single to score Abreu from third to make it 4-0 Yanks.
The Sox wasted no time getting the runs back as they struck for 5 runs in their half of the 5th inning.
Jason Varitek led off the inning with a single and went to second on a Wily Mo Peña single. They both moved over a base on a Coco Crisp single. With the bases loaded and no outs, Julio Lugo struck out. Dustin Pedroia then extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double that cleared the bases, cutting the Yanks lead to one. Big Papi then lined a single to Abreu in right field that Abreu misplayed and Papi got to third on the error. Pedroia had scored tying the game up. This also chased Pettitte from the game.
Luis Vizcaino came in to replace Pettitte and he intentionally walked the first batter he faced, Manny, to set up a double play. Unfortunately for the Yanks, it didn’t work out that way as Youk hit a long flyball to center that scored Pedroia, giving the Sox a 5-4 lead.
Beckett’s line: 6 1/3 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs (all earned), 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.
The Sox now head out to the left coast for a 7 game road trip that starts in Oakland on Monday. Surprisingly, the Red Sox don’t have an off day and probably won’t arrive in Oakland til 9 am east coast time. Julian Tavarez takes the hill for the Sox.
