After five games of frustration, the Red Sox finally got back in the win column, taking a 9-5 victory over the New York Yankees thanks to some big contributions from unlikely sources.
Things would get worse before they got better for the Sox, however, as the Yankees once again jumped all over them in the first. Or, perhaps more accurately, the Sox let themselves get run over yet again, as Mauro Gomez made two errors on one play and then failed to field a bunt to put two men on before an out was recorded. Up came Mark Teixeira, and on the second pitch the Sox found themselves down 3-0 before they had recorded an out thanks to a big homer to dead center.
If Felix Doubront had been responsible for the homer, the three runs were still not representative of how he'd pitched, however, and he did his best to show the truth of that over the next five innings. While Mauro Gomez and Pedro Ciriaco were busy helping the Sox to claw back into the game with a run in the third and another in the fifth, Doubront set about retiring Yankees, often by way of the strikeout. Through the end of the sixth, Doubront would allow just two more baserunners while striking out six batters to keep the Sox alive.
Then came the bottom of the sixth. While the Sox had already seen plenty in the way of backups and call-ups producing results, the last week or so had seen a bit of a drop off in that respect. Suddenly, however, they've found another wave. Already responsible for the first two runs, Mauro Gomez and Pedro Ciriaco would strike again in the sixth, with the former loading the bases with a one-out single and the latter clearing them with a double past third, giving the Sox a 5-3 lead.
The seventh would prove even more productive. After Ryan Sweeney tripled home Adrian Gonzalez, Mauro Gomez knocked Sweeney in and then scored on a hard hit ground ball by Pedro Ciriaco that bounced off Jayson Nix' glove at third. It was scored an error, but could easily have been another big hit for the call-up, who then stole third and scampered home when the throw ended up in left field, making a quick curtain call as Fenway chanted his name.
Clayton Mortensen made a bit of a mess of things by loading the bases with one out in the eighth before Vicente Padilla quickly got two pop-ups in foul territory to end the inning, and Alfredo Aceves gave up a solo shot to Eric Chavez in the ninth, but the Sox had plenty of cushion to survive the hit, finally snapping their lengthy losing streak.
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