After a rain delay of 2 hours and 17 minutes, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees finally stepped onto the field to play some baseball.
And after Jonathan Papelbon made it interesting once again at the end, the Red Sox walked off the field at 1:10 AM with a 6-4 win in front of an announced crowd of 46,426 at the new Yankee Stadium.
The win for the Red Sox ends a 2-game slide that came at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays to raise their record to 16-10 and now sit a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. The loss for the Yanks was their second straight and they drop to 13-12 which puts them 3.5 games behind the Red Sox and in third place.
Jon Lester once again was a Yankee killer as he remains undefeated against them. He looked good on the mound despite a two bad pitches and a bad throw on a potential double play ball. Lester threw 111 pitches in 7 innings while allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while tying his career-high of 10 strikeouts.
Ramon Ramirez finally gave up an earned run as he gave up a hit and a walk in 1/3 of an inning. Papelbon came on for the final five outs of the game and didn’t make it look easy in picking up his 7th save of the season.
Jason Bay had himself quite a game for the visiting nine as he had three hits, including a home run, and added 2 RBIs. Mike Lowell also had two hits that included a home run and had 2 RBIs while David Ortiz, yes Big Papi, had 2 hits (both doubles) and RBI to go with two walks (one intentional). Jacoby Ellsbury also had two hits and a stolen base.
The Red Sox did lose Kevin Youkilis to back stiffness during the game. He’s listed as day-to-day.
Phil Hughes got the start for the Yankees and only lasted 4 innings. He gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 4 walks with two strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves worked 4 1/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. Edwar Ramirez and Phil Coke finished it off for Joe Girardi’s Yankees.
Dustin Pedroia worked a 1-out walk in the 1st and went to third on a Big Papi double. With Youk at the plate, Pedroia came into score on a Jose Molina passed ball to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
Lowell became the first Red Sox player to homer in the new Yankee Stadium when he led off the 2nd inning to put the Red Sox up 2-0.
With two outs in the 3rd inning, J.D. Drew singled and went to second on a Bay infield single. Lowell followed with a single to score Drew that gave the Sox a 3-0 lead.
Ellsbury stroked a 1-out ground-rule double in the 4th that would have probably been an inside-the-park home run as Johnny Damon dove and missed it. Pedroia moved Ellsbury over to third on a fly out and Ellsbury came around to score on Big Papi’s second double of the evening to make it 4-0.
Lester looked like the Lester of 2008 as he had no trouble with the Yankees through the first four innings. Things changed though in the 5th.
Molina led off with a single and then was retired at second on a fielder’s choice by Angel Berroa. The reason it didn’t turn into a double play was a poor throw to Nick Green at second by Lester. Otherwise, the inning may have been different.
Lester struck out Derek Jeter and argued it. Girardi got out there quick to argue as well and was tossed from the game. Damon then got the Yanks on the board with a 2-run homer and Mark Teixeira followed with a solo homer on the next pitch to cut the Red Sox lead to 4-3.
Aceves started the 7th with a strikeout of Jeff Bailey, who had replaced Youk when he left the game. Aceves hit Drew with a pitch and Bay made him pay for that as he crushed a fastball out of the park for a 2-run homer to increase the Red Sox lead to 6-3.
Ramirez took over for Lester in the 8th and gave up his first earned run on the season on Teixiera home run to make it 6-4 Sox. After a Nick Swisher ground out and walk to Robinson Cano, Papelbon came in and finished off the game by keeping everyone on their toes.
Solid win for the Red Sox as Lester definitely looked great. I have to think that if he had made a perfect throw to Green he may have not had trouble with his location during the at-bats to Damon and Lester. Nonetheless, it’s a win after the debacle in Tampa this weekend.
These same two teams are back at it later today when Josh Beckett and Joba Chamberlain duel to the death, weather permitting of course. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.
Notes and musings:
Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees 5.4.09 box score
Yesterday the Rays’ Carl Crawford tied a modern major league record with 6 stolen bases in a game while Tampa Bay tallied a total of 8 steals against Boston. It is the most stolen bases the club has allowed since giving up 8 on July 9, 1915 at Detroit. The club record for steals allowed in a game is 9 set on October 3, 1913 at Washington (Source: Elias Sports Bureau).
Clay Buchholz was named International League Pitcher of the Week for April 27-May 3, going 1-0 with a 0.79 ERA (1 ER/11.1 IP), 13 K’s and 3 walks in 2 starts. He has yet to allow more than 3 hits in a game this year.
Red Sox on streaks:
- J.D. Drew extended his hitting streak to 4 games
- Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 4 games
- Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 3 games
- Kevin Youkilis saw his three-game hitting streak come to an end
