The Red Sox and Yankees are set to resume their series after a lengthy rain delay as Jon Lester takes on CC Sabathia in New Yankee Stadium.
Red Sox 8, Yankees 6, Mid 9th -- It's a miracle in the Bronx for the Red Sox. Or perhaps it's better to just call it a gift. With one out and Jacoby Ellsbury on first, Pedro Ciriaco hits a lazy fly ball to center that should be an easy out for Curtis Granderson. Instead, the outfielder gets twisted around tracking back, and looks the fool making a late backwards lunge to try and make the grab. No such luck. The ball gets down, allowing Ellsbury to race all the way home to give the Sox the lead and moving Ciriaco to third. Afterwards, a hard drive to left from Dustin Pedroia does end up in Raul Ibanez' glove, but it's well deep enough to bring in Ciriaco for a helpful insurance run.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 6, End 8th -- And Mark Teixeira not only wins this most recent edition of his war with Vicente Padilla, but maybe wins the game for the Yankees. The homer was always in the cards for the Yankees, with Curtis Granderson launching back-to-back one-out bombs that just barely went foul. While Padilla would manage to strike the outfielder out, Mark Teixeira came to the plate, took a 2-0 Eephus pitch for a strike, and then blasted a 96 MPH fastball for a no-doubt two-run shot to right, tying the game up before Andrew Miller entered to pick up the third out of the inning.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4, Mid 8th -- The Sox still don't have another run, but Will Middlebrooks picked up his second hit of the night and ninth in some 18 at bats. He seems to finally be over the adjustment hump again, and is driving the ball with some very real authority.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4, End 7th -- Matt Albers gets the Sox the first of three relief innings they need to grab this win, retiring the bottom of the order with mid-90s gas.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4, Mid 7th -- David Phelps picks up a 1-2-3 seventh inning, albeit with a ton of hard contact including a deep drive to right that had to be run down by Ichiro Suzuki to send the game to the bottom of the seventh.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4, End 6th -- An otherwise forgettable outing for Jon Lester becomes notable when he strikes out Robinson Cano for his sixth strikeout of the game and the one thousandth of his career.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4, Mid 6th -- A seeing-eye single from Daniel Nava is the only thing breaking up an otherwise-perfect inning for CC Sabathia, bouncing back from his difficulties in the fifth.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4, End 5th -- It would be funny if it weren't so sad. For what seems like the twentieth time this season, Jon Lester was given a big lead, and then let the other team back in the game immediately.
The lead shrank almost immediately to three runs, with Lester surrendering a four-pitch walk and then giving up a two-run shot to Jayson Nix. The baserunners didn't stop there, however, as the Yankees quickly grabbed another walk and a single. Chris Stewart gifted Lester with his first out on a bunt, but it at least did its job, as a Derek Jeter ground ball was able to bring a third run in. A strikeout of Curtis Granderson finally ended things, but not before all hopes of a good outing were lost.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 1, Mid 5th -- The lead grows significantly in one of the best ways possible. With two outs, the Sox get baserunners on a Pedro Ciriaco single and Dustin Pedroia walk, bringing Adrian Gonzalez to the plate. CC Sabathia makes one bad pitch, a hanging curveball, and Gonzalez is all over it, crushing it over the wall in right for a three-run shot--his tenth of the year and fourth of the month.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 1, End 4th -- Lester bounces back after the homer, striking out Curtis Granderson and then, after a single, snagging a ball back to the mound in the air and tossing to first to turn a double play.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 1, Mid 4th -- Will Middlebrooks continues to see the ball well, drawing a one-out walk to break up a stretch of some nine straight retired batters by Sabathia. The Sox go down 1-2 behind him, however, leaving them stuck at three runs another inning.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 1, End 3rd -- Jon Lester's run of eight straight batters retired is brought to an emphatic end by Chris Stewart, who grabs his first home run of the year on a pitch that doesn't stay quite as outside as Lester would've wanted it. Still, low in the zone and not exactly a meatball, credit Stewart for doing with it what he did.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 0, Mid 3rd -- CC Sabathia responds with a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Only the first inning separates the two, but that was a big one for the Sox.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 0, End 2nd -- Another quick 1-2-3 inning for Jon Lester, who has now retired the first six batters of the game. Robinson Cano at least put some good wood on the ball, lining out to center field, but a pop-up from Andruw Jones and strikeout of Jayson Nix suggests that's not exactly a sign of impending doom.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 0, Mid 2nd -- The second inning doesn't go nearly as well for the Red Sox against Sabathia. Eight pitches earns the lefty two strikeouts of Mike Aviles and Daniel Nava, and while Jacoby Ellsbury is able to fight off a good few pitches, he ends up grounding out easily on the eighth to end the frame.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 0, End 1st -- Amazingly, Jon Lester is out of the first in very quick fashion. The inning that has caused him no end of trouble this year goes by on just 13 pitches, with a Mark Teixeira strikeout capping it off. Perhaps the rain delay was all Lester needed to make it feel like the middle innings early on.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 0, Mid 1st -- The two hour rain delay has thrown CC Sabathia out of sorts, it seems. After striking out Jacoby Ellsbury on a curveball, the inning went completely off the rails for the Yankees' southpaw. Pedro Ciriaco and Dustin Pedroia got things started with back-to-back line drive singles, bringing Adrian Gonzalez to the plate with a runner in scoring position.
The first baseman would deliver, crushing a long double to the right field wall, giving the Sox the 1-0 lead and putting two men in scoring position. Cody Ross just narrowly missed making it 4-0, getting out ahead of a very hittable pitch to send a towering fly ball foul before ultimately popping up to shallow center, but this time the big two-out hit came, with Will Middlebrooks lining a double to the gap in left. With both runners scoring, the Sox entered the bottom of the first with a 3-0 lead.