The Red Sox’ wild card lead will live for at least one more inning, as the Sox and Yankees are headed to the tenth in New York.
For one brief, shining moment the Sox actually held a lead over New York. Jed Lowrie again picked up a big hit, doubling to lead off the seventh, and then came around to tie the game when, one out later, Marco Scutaro doubled to left. A single up-the-middle from Jason Varitek, and suddenly the Sox led 4-3 with Ivan Nova pulled from the game.
With John Lackey having gone five strong innings after his terrible first, Terry Francona felt comfortable sticking with his starter for the seventh inning, but only for one batter. A ground ball single spelled the end to Lackey’s night, and after a wild pitch and a groundout off of Alfredo Aceves, a fly ball to center proved enough to bring the run home to tie the game for New York.
With both closers managing to get out of dangerous situations in the ninth, the Sox and Yanks remain knotted. One thing to note is that both Mark Teixeira and Adrian Gonzalez have been pulled from the game for pinch runners—neither of whom had any impact on the inning.