The Yankees repaid the Red Sox for their Friday defeat, taking the second game of the series 9-4 on Saturday.
The Red Sox faced the same problems on Saturday that they did for most of their six game losing streak. Clay Buchholz failed to escape the fourth inning, allowing eight hits and five runs (four earned) as he struggled with fastball control. The biggest hit against him came in the fourth when, with two men on and no outs, Russell Martin took him deep into the Monster seats. The Yankees picked up two more hits in the inning before the Sox called on Felix Doubront, who struck out Robinson Cano to minimize the damage.
Facing a 5-1 deficit in the bottom of the frame, the Red Sox responded as J.D. Drew picked up a leadoff walk and singles from Jed Lowrie and Carl Crawford scored a run while setting up Dustin Pedroia with a two-out RBI opportunity. For the first and only time Saturday, a Boston batter cashed in on the chance, as Pedroia hit a long double off of the wall in center field, scoring two and bringing the Sox back within one run.
The game didn’t stay close for very long, though. The Yankees hit their second home run of the game off of Felix Doubront in the fifth, and then their third and fourth in the next two innings off of Alfredo Aceves, giving New York a 9-4 lead. While the Sox would pick up two baserunners in each of the fifth, eighth, and ninth innings, they failed to score any of them, capping a 1-for-17 performance with runners in scoring position.
The Red Sox are now 1-7 and four games back of the Yankees in the AL East.