The Yankees avenged their 4-1 loss to Boston on Saturday with a 4-1 win Sunday, sending the Red Sox to yet another series loss on the power of two Ichiro Suzuki homers.
Josh Beckett was not a complete disaster for the Red Sox like he has been in recent games, but he was far from impressive. Surrendering a two-out run in the first inning, Beckett found himself behind early and never really entirely settled down. Some bad defense from Ryan Lavarnway would help New York to push across another run in the third, leaving the Sox down 2-0 one third of the way through the game.
The real daggers for Josh Beckett's night, however, would come from an unusual source: Ichiro Suzuki. There is nothing so historically odd about Ichiro getting big hits, but this year he's hardly able to pick up singles with regularity. Against Beckett, however, the outfielder somehow stumbled upon a rarely-used power swing. A solo shot to right field in the fourth made it three runs in four innings for Beckett, and after the Boston starter managed to escape a bases loaded, one out jam in the fifth, Ichiro would strike for another solo shot in the sixth, leaving Beckett with four earned runs to his name in six innings.
Hiroki Kuroda, meanwhile, had been absolutely stifling. Where Beckett was getting behind in the count, Kuroda was getting ahead, mowing through the Boston lineup with ruthless efficiency. About the only positives the Sox saw were long at bats, and those were few and far between. Nick Punto got them their first hit in the third, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia didn't made it two until the fifth.
The only damage the Sox would manage to muster came in the seventh, when Adrian Gonzalez got a breaking ball that hung up just high enough for him to really turn on it. There was never any doubt that the long fly ball was headed into the stands, but it was good for just one run, leaving the Red Sox still trailing by three. With the Sox never really threatening again, they left New Yankee Stadium losers in yet another series.
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