The Red Sox are out to grab a win in what, with Daisuke Matsuzaka scheduled to start tomorrow, is very likely their last competitive game of the year.
We'll keep you up-to-date on all the action as it goes down in New Yankee Stadium.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 3, End 11th -- Vicente Padilla almost gives up the walkoff, but Jacoby Ellsbury ranges back and crashes into the wall to make a great grab on an Alex Rodriguez fly ball that should have won it.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 3, Mid 11th -- Derek Lowe holds his old team down for an inning despite, of course, another leadoff baserunner in the form of James Loney. Oh, and Pedro Ciriaco was intentionally walked. That's the effect of Jose Iglesias' bat in the lineup.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 3, End 10th -- The Yankees manage not even the baserunner, with Mark Melancon holding on for another three outs.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 3, Mid 10th -- The Sox' campaign for an extra innings win gets off to a typical start: one baserunner, zero runs.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 3, End 9th -- And it takes Andrew Bailey just two batters to blow the lead, with Raul Ibanez uncorking a line drive into the stands in right for a two-run homer that ties it up. Bailey manages to load the bases with one out before he is mercifully removed for Mark Melancon, who gets a pop-up and ground ball to send it to extras.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 1, Mid 9th -- James Loney launches a rare solo shot to right field to give the Red Sox some much needed insurance headed to the bottom of the ninth.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, End 8th -- The Yankees waste a two-out single from Russell Martin when Brett Gardner gets himself picked off while pinch-running. They've got three outs to tie it up, or the Sox will force them to win tomorrow to avoid at least one one-game playoff.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, Mid 8th -- David Robertson avoids the customary baserunner by striking out two batters in the top of the 8th, but the Yankees will have to get to scoring if they want to stay alone atop the A.L. East now that the Orioles have won their game.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, End 7th -- Junichi Tazawa enters for the seventh, which of course means it does not last long at all. 1-2-3 go the Yankees, with Alex Rodriguez striking out on four pitches to once again preserve the lead. He's been just so huge this year out of the pen. If only the Sox had put it to good use.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, Mid 7th -- The Red Sox get, of course, one baserunner on a Pedro Ciriaco single. Ciriaco even manages to add in a stolen base to get himself into scoring position, but the Sox just refuse to give their pen even the slightest breathing room.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, End 6th -- Jon Lester is indeed done for the night and the season, leaving his ERA at an unhealthy 4.82--the worst of his career. Still, it's at least a good night's work, albeit injury shortened from the southpaw. It's Rich Hill who ends up replacing him on the mound, and while he gets himself in trouble with a single and double, Ichiro Suzuki hits one on the screws but right at Ellsbury to end the inning.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, Mid 6th -- The Sox are being really consistent about this one baserunner an inning thing on the whole. This time it's Daniel Nava drawing a leadoff walk and being stranded once again.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, End 5th -- Lester faces more trouble in the fifth, and given his limping, may not be fully healthy. That's only to be expected given the fact that he plays for the Red Sox, but at least in the fifth it hasn't cost the Red Sox at thing. Five innings, one unearned run.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, Mid 5th -- The 9-1-2 hitters go down in order to end the fifth. Since the strong start, the Ellsbury - Pedroia combo has been unproductive.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, End 4th -- Robinson Cano leads off with a single against Jon Lester, but this time the southpaw needs no double plays to help him secure a scoreless fourth and keep the Red Sox' lead intact.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, Mid 4th -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia continues the too-slow parade of Red Sox baserunners in the fourth, drawing a walk and then staying there after a couple of outs from Ryan Lavarnway and Pedro Ciriaco.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, End 3rd -- Once again a double play helps Lester out of a jam, rescuing him from a first-and-third, one out situation after Alex Rodriguez picks up his second weak hit of the night. Lester is getting remarkably unlucky for how well he's stayed in this one.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, Mid 3rd -- Daniel Nava gets hit by a pitch with two outs, making this not simply an ineffective inning, but a painfully ineffective inning.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1, End 2nd -- The Yankees manage to push one across against Lester with two outs thanks in part to a errant throw from Pedro Ciriaco. It comes on a Curtis Granderson ground ball which is ruled a single anyways, but it allows him to reach second, steal third, and then score on another infield single, this time from Eduardo Nunez. Not exactly hard contact, just unfortunate results.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 0, Mid 2nd -- Pedro Ciriaco grabs his first infield single against the Yankees in a bit--that's kind of his bread and butter when it comes to killing New York--but it's the only blip in an otherwise quiet inning for David Phelps.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 0, End 1st -- Both a ground ball and bloop find their way in for hits against Jon Lester in the top of the first. It's the type of start to an inning that strikes fear into the hearts of Sox fans--"oh here we go again"--but this time it's just some bad luck that's easily erased. Mark Teixeira grounds into a double play with one out, and just like that the inning is over.
Red Sox 2, Yankees 0, Mid 1st -- The difference between yesterday's game and tonight's? Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. The perfect world 1-2 combo hasn't had many appearances this season, but tonight they're working like a charm. Jacoby Ellsbury leads off the inning with a single to center, and five pitches later it's Pedroia finding the gap in right-center, giving Ellsbury enough time to race home all the way from first. Daniel Nava manages to move Pedroia over to third, and Cody Ross knocks him in with a sacrifice fly to make it an early 2-0 lead.