The series would come down to this game with Josh Beckett on the mound for the Sox and Freddy Garcia on the mound for the Yankees. The common theme for Josh Beckett this season is that he’s been crazy good and that he gets little to no run support. Once again, Beckett would pitch his guts out and leave the mound looking at a no decision.
The Sox looked like they were going to get all over Garcia early in the 2nd when they had the bases loaded and no outs. However, they were only able to get one run across the plate. Reddick K’ed and then Tek popped out. Luckily, Marco Scutaro hit an RBI single to score Youkilis and the Sox lead 1-0. Beckett kept pitching along and was clinging to a 1-0 lead until the top of the 5th when he gave up a solo HR to Nunez to tie the game. Garcia kept trucking along as well and the Sox bats really couldn’t get anything else going against him.
In the 6th inning, Boone Logan came out in relief of Freddy Garcia. Logan’s job was to get the lefties out and he wasn’t able to get his job done. Logan walked Papi and then gave up a single to Crawford. He was able to get lefty Josh Reddick to fly out and then he was pulled by Girardi and Cory Wade was in the game. The Sox had two batters on and one out, but Wade did his job and got the two outs. Matt Albers came out in relief of Josh Beckett and gave up a solo HR to Brett Gardner. Albers has been so lights out for the Sox this year that it was kind of a gut punch to Sox fans. Morales came out to get the last out of the inning and walked the bases loaded before finally getting that out. Phew. If the Red Sox were going to have any chance, they were going to have to do it against the stellar back end of the Yankees bullpen.
Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless 7th. Sox still trailed 2-1. Wheeler struck out the side in his stellar inning of relief in the 8th. David Robertson pitched a scoreless bottom of the 8th. Sox still trailed 2-1. Jonathan Papelbon came out for the top of the 9th and also had a scoreless inning of relief. It seems like it has been forever since Papelbon has been able to pitch in a save situation.
In the bottom of the 9th, Mariano Rivera came to the mound. You know…the best closer in baseball history. That guy. Marco Scutaro started off the inning by hitting a wall ball double. Ellsbury hit a sac bunt to get Scoots over to third base with one out. Pedey came to the plate and hit a sac fly to bring Scoots home. Game tied. Mo blew a save. That guy. Gonzo ground out to end the inning and we were on to extra innings.
Dan Bard came out in relief in the 10th. Bard had to face Teixeira as his first hitter. Of all the Yankees, Teixeira is the guy who has given him the most trouble, including a solo HR on Saturday night. However, Bard would win the battle tonight and K Teixeira to start the inning. Bard then got Cano to ground out and Swisher to strike out. In the bottom of the 10th, Phil Hughes came out of the bullpen for the Yankees. Hughes got Youk to fly out for the first out. David Ortiz hit a ground rule double and then the Yanks intentionally walked Carl Crawford. Josh Reddick came to the plate with the chance to be a hero…and he did just that. Reddick hit a walk off single to left field and the RED SOX WON!
Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images
While Reddick is the walkoff hero, I’d like to give a shout out to Marco Scutaro who made all things possible in this game. Marco went 4 for 4 on the night on a night when the offense went to sleep. Jed Lowrie may be back on the team tomorrow, but Marco is not just gonna go away quietly. Great great game from Scoots!
With this win, the Sox take over sole possesion of first place in the AL East. With this win, the Sox also officially take the series with the Yankees for the year with a 10-2 record.
Red Sox 3 Yankees 2 BOXSCORE
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