The Red Sox have maintained their 1-run lead against the Yankees, but are playing with fire as they ask for some shutdown innings from their bullpen after Jon Lester left the game with well over 100 pitches following the fifth.
So far, Alfredo Aceves has provided them with one, but it wasn’t without difficulty, as the Yankees ended up loading the bases. Aceves induced a ground ball off the bat of Robinson Cano, however, and escaped unharmed. With the Red Sox unable to produce any more runs despite putting a couple men on base in the sixth, they’ll need one more from Aceves or somewhere else to get the ball to Bard and Papelbon for the 8th and 9th.