The Red Sox scored seven runs off of CC Sabathia Saturday, returning to a tie atop the A.L. East with a 10-4 beating of the Yankees.
After a pair of perfect innings, CC Sabathia finally showed some vulnerability in the third. Carl Crawford led off the inning with the first of what would be four hits for the left fielder on the day: a double off the wall in left. Jarrod Saltalamacchia drew a walk, and with Sabathia having looked incredible in the first two innings, the Sox decided to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Jacoby Ellsbury brought home the first run of the game with a sacrfice fly, and Dustin Pedroia made it 2-0 by bouncing another double off the Monster.
The Yankees wasted no time tying things up, scoring two off of Lackey after loading the bases with no outs in the fourth, but the Sox didn't let the tie last long at all. Kevin Youkilis led off the bottom of the frame with a double, then moved to third on a flair off the bat of Mike Aviles that fell in front of Nick Swisher in right. Carl Crawford's grounder found a hole between second and third, and it was 3-2.
The Sox were far from done, however. After Jarrod Saltalamacchia struck out, Marco Scutaro shot a line drive up the middle for a fourth run, and with two men on, Jacoby Ellsbury took a 2-0 fastball and hit a towering fly ball that ended up just barely in the stands in right for a three-run shot to make it 7-2.
The Yankees picked up a run in the fifth after the first three men reached base, but Lackey fought back to strike out the next two batters, and ended up escaping both the fifth and sixth innings without any more damage. He finished his day with a strong start against a strong team in the books. Daniel Bard would allow a home run to Mark Teixeira, who has routinely killed him during his career, but closed out the rest of the eighth quietly enough.
While the Sox didn't need to add any more runs, they did in the eighth after Josh Reddick, Carl Crawford, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia reached base to lead off the inning. Jacoby Ellsbury picked up his fifth and sixth RBI of the game, and Dustin Pedroia hit a sacrifice fly to make it 10 runs on the day for the Sox. Dan Wheeler finished things off in the ninth, and the Sox rejoined the Yankees in a tie atop the A.L. East.