It was all about the young kids for the Boston Red Sox tonight as Justin Masterson, Michael Bowden and Jacoby Ellsbury all helped them to a 4-1 win over the New York Yankees in front of 38,154 and national television audience on a stunning night for baseball at Fenway Park.
The sweep of the Yankees (9-9) was the third straight sweep of a team on the homestand (won 4 against the Baltimore Orioles, 2 against the Minnesota Twins) and is their 10th straight win after starting the season 2-6.
What can I say about Justin Masterson? The boy got the job done again. He’s been simply brilliant on the mound filling in for the injured Daisuke Matsuzaka. Tonight, he gave the Red Sox 5 1/3 innings of 1-run ball. He gave up 6 hits while walking just one and he struck out four.
Hunter Jones went 2/3 of an inning striking out 1. Michael Bowden, who was called up for the night, struck out 2 in 2 innings. Takashi Saito allowed just a hit in the 9th to pick up his second save of the season.
Obviously the play of the game and the season so far was the steal of home for Jacoby Ellsbury. He went 1-for-3 with a walk, 2 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. David Ortiz picked up 2 RBIs on the night, one coming on a sac fly and the other on a double while J.D. Drew had an RBI double before leaving the game with tightness in his quad.
Andy Pettitte went 6 innings for the Yanks, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) 6 hits and walks while recording 6 strikeouts, including two of Drew.
Masterson retired the first six batters he faced for Hideki Matsui led off the 3rd with a single. He would go to second on a Melky Cabrera single and ended up at third on an Angel Berroa sacrifce bunt with Melky going to second. Brett Gardner gave the Yanks a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly to left.
The Red Sox quickly got their young pitcher the run back in the bottom half of the inning.
Nick Green reached on an error by Berroa to start the inning and then was forced out at second on an Ellsbury fielder’s choice. With Dustin Pedroia at the plate, Ellsbury stole second and then went to third when Pedroia reached on a Berroa throwing error. It did look like Teixeira was distracted by Ellsbury running as he couldn’t scoop the poor throw. Ortiz tied it at 1 with a sac fly to left. The inning ended with Kevin Youkilis at the plate when Pedroia was picked off trying to steal second.
Jason Varitek worked a leadoff walk in the 5th. After a Green strikeout, Ellsbury walked. Pedroia flew out for the second out and then Big Papi followed with a double to score Varitek to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead with Ellsbury stopping at third. With a 1-1 count and Drew at the plate, Ellsbury broke for home beating the pitch from Pettitte for a straight steal of home to make it 3-1. The pitch was called a ball and Drew hit the next pitch for a ground rule double that scored Big Papi to provide the final margin of 4-1.
Obviously it goes without saying the Red Sox are playing some really great baseball right now. Other than a few blips in the radar, the bullpen has been outstanding as of late picking up the starters when needed. The other nice thing about the winning streak for the Red Sox is that it seems like there is a different hero each night.
The Red Sox will welcome Julio Lugo back to the team as they head out on a 9-game road trip that starts tomorrow night in Cleveland and ends against the Yankees. Tim Wakefield looks to continue his strong performances of late for the Red Sox and he’ll be opposed by the reigning Cy Young winner Cliff Lee.
Notes and musings:
New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox 4.26.09 box score
The straight steal of home for the Ellsbury was the first by a member of the Red Sox since 1994 when Billy Hatcher did it.
The Red Sox’s 10-game win streak is the longest during the month of April since 2002 when the Indians and Mariners each won 10 as well.
The 10-game winning streak is also the longest for the Red Sox since a 12-gamer from June 16-29, 2006.
The Red Sox swept their sixth homestand of at least nine games in team history.
Julio Lugo led off and went 2-for-5 with a double and a run as DH on rehab in Pawtucket today…Yesterday, he played 9 innings at shortstop and batted leadoff, going 2-for-6 with a strikeout and an error. He is 4-for-17 with a double, 2 walks and 5 K’s in 4 Triple-A rehab games
Red Sox on streaks:
- Mike Lowell extended his hitting streak to 10-games
- Dustin Pedroia saw his 8-game hitting streak come to an end
- David Ortiz extended his hitting streak to 6-games
- Jason Bay extended his hitting streak to 3-games
- Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 3-games
- Kevin Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 3-games
