You’ll get two for the price of one with recaps from both games in the Yankees series in this post. If you had asked me before the series, I would have predicted that Lester would win game one…and Lackey would probably lose game two. Reality…reverse that.
Friday Night’s Game:
Jon Lester took the mound in hopes of putting an end to the Yankees 7 game winning streak they had going on. Lester looked great and seemed in line for a win until he hit the 6th inning. The Sox gave Lester a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd when Ellsbury hit an RBI double to score Scutaro. The Sox added another run when Ortiz hit a HR to right field. No one could take that RBI away from him. Papi has hit 21 HRs on the year and is such a threat even when he is technically “slumping.” The Sox had a chance to get even more in the bottom of the 5th when they had the bases loaded and no outs. Unfortunately, Girardi pulled Colon and replaced him with Boone Logan. Logan has not been having a great year for the Yanks, but he did his job and got Gonzo to strike out to end the inning and the Sox rally.
Lester took the mound in the 6th and walked Nunez to start the inning. Lester then gave up a single to Jeter. Lester gave up an RBI single to Curtis Granderson to let the Yanks on the board. Lester walked Teixeira and now the Yanks had the bases loaded and still no outs. It seems like the wheels were coming off for Lester. Cano ground into a double play and it seemed like Lester might be able to get out of the inning. Still the game was tied. However, it would not be the case. Swisher hit an RBI double and suddenly the Yankees were leading 3-2.
The Yankees bullpen did their job and the Sox couldn’t get anything else going. Logan pitched another scoreless inning, followed by Soriano, Robertson and Rivera. Lester had one bad inning and unfortunately not much run support. The Yankees win. Boo.
Red Sox 2 Yankees 3 BOXSCORE
Saturday Night’s Game:
I was at this game and it was a great time. I’ll be honest, I was worried about the match up of Sabathia verses Lackey. While CC has been 0-3 against the Sox this year, he is still CC Sabathia. And while John Lackey has been much much better, I didn’t know if he had it in him to beat CC and the Yanks.
I was wrong. Lackey was great, CC was not. Lackey continued his real nice streak since the All Star Break and pitched very well. The Sox got to CC for 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Crawford hit a leadoff double followed by a walk by Salty. Next the Sox did something they rarely do, a sacrifice bunt by Scutaro. Ellsbury hit a sac fly RBI to plate Crawford and then Pedey hit a double to plate Salty. Sox lead 2-0.
Lackey ended up giving the lead right back in the top of the 4th. Granderson hit a single, stole second and then headed to 3rd on a Salty throwing error. Lackey hit Cano and had the bases loaded with no outs. Swish hit into a DP to score the first run and then Lackey gave up a single to Chavez to score the second run. However, the Sox bats gave Lackey the lead right back in the bottom of the 4th. Crawford and Scutaro both hit RBI singles in the inning and then the game was put out of reach when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a 3 run HR. Ells hit his 19th HR of the season and is continuing his absolutely spectacular season. Lackey pitched 6 strong innings and even though the Yanks made him work, he did not break. Against a pretty potent lineup, Lackey was pretty gosh darn good. His line for the night was 6 IP, 115 pitches, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BBs and 5 Ks.
Lackey was followed by a scoreless inning of relief by Alfredo Aceves in the 7th. Every time Aces pitches against the Yankees it has to remind them what a mistake they made in releasing him from his contract. Thanks again Yankees! In the 8th inning, Daniel Bard gave up a solo HR to make the outing a possible save situation for the 9th inning. Papelbon got up and started to get warm. However, Papelbon would end up not being needed since the Sox bats went back to work in the bottom of the 8th. Ellsbury hit a 2 RBI single to score Reddick and Crawford. Pedey also hit a sac fly RBI to score Salty. The Sox lead 10-4. Papelbon sat back down and Dan Wheeler was in for the 9th. Wheeler gave up a double and a walk, but no one came home to score.
The Red Sox WIN…and are once again tied with the Yankees for the top of the AL East. Tomorrow, one of the teams will finish the day as the sole leader of the AL East.
Red Sox 10 Yankees 4 BOXSCORE
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