Bay homers against Mo in ninth, Youk walk off in 11th beats Yanks
BOSTON – In Fenway Park, anything is possible.
No lead is ever safe and you can never have enough runs. But when you have Mariano Rivera on the mound needing to get the final three outs, there is no one else you would rather give the ball to.
Sometimes though, Mo proves to be human.
Needing to get one more out to hold down a potential 4-2 Yankees victory, Rivera’s 1-0 pitch to Jason Bay sailed to deep left center and as much as he tried to will the ball to stay in, it cleared the high wall of the Green Monster to tie the game at four and send it in to extra innings.
Kevin Youkilis would send the Red Sox fans home happy with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th for a 5-4 victory in a game where “The Rivalry” lived up to everything you could have asked for in the first of its 19 installments.
For Rivera, it was the 11th in his career that he had blown a save to Boston. It is an incredible number when you consider that he has blown 60 total in all of his years as a closer. The Red Sox hit him better than other team has and though he has closed them out the last 13 times, he was unable to do it for the 14th.
Starter Joba Chamberlain battled control issues for most of his 5 1/3 innings, but was able to induce four double play outs from Red Sox hitters. He threw 91 pitches, but only 49 strikes and walked four batters while striking out only two.
The first run of the game came on a wild pitch from Chamberlain as his slider bounced past catcher Jose Molina and went to the backstop as Jacoby Ellsbury was attempting to steal third base. With presence of mind, Ellsbury raced to the plate as Joba was slow to cover home. Molina’s throw home was too late to beat speedster.
Answering back in the fourth, Cody Ransom’s liner stayed fair inside the third base line for a run scoring double to tie the game. An RBI groundout by Jeter scored Molina to give the Yankees the lead.
Chamberlain would give the lead back in the bottom of the sixth when after Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek reached on a double and single, shortstop and former Yankee Nick Green tied the game with single to score Lowell.
The Yankees would take the lead again in the seventh when Mark Teixeira introduced himself to “The Rivalry” by looping a shallow fly into centerfield scoring Jeter. Robinson Cano followed with a sac fly to extend the lead to 4-2.
In the ninth, there was a golden opportunity to break the game open. The Yankees had the bases loaded and no one out against lefty reliever Javier Lopez. However, with the infield playing in, Cano’s hard hit grounder turned into a 4-2-3 double play and Melky Cabrera’s pop out ended the threat. On the night, the team left 15 men on base.
That set the stage for a Red Sox comeback against Rivera in the bottom of the inning.
Jon Papelbon entered the game in the tenth and immediately gave up a leadoff single to Molina. After successive outs by Ramiro Pena (sacrifice) and Jeter (groundout), it set up a battle between the Boston closer and Teixeira after Johnny Damon walked.
With the crowd rising in anticipation, the count ran to 3-2. Papelbon unleashed a high fastball shoulder high that Teixeira swung through to end the inning.
Damaso Marte relieved Rivera and pitched a scoreless tenth. He would not be as lucky in the eleventh after striking out David Ortiz (who struck out four times). His 2-2 pitch to Youkilis landed in the Monster Seats and the Red Sox came away with a win.
The tough loss though will have to be forgotten about quickly. A mid-afternoon start tomorrow at Fenway features Josh Beckett for Boston and AJ Burnett, who will be making his first foray into “The Rivalry” for the Yankees.
Game time is at 4:10 ET.
BOSTON – In Fenway Park, anything is possible.
No lead is ever safe and you can never have enough runs. But when you have Mariano Rivera on the mound needing to get the final three outs, there is no one else you would rather give the ball to.
Sometimes though, Mo proves to be human.
Needing to get one more out to hold down a potential 4-2 Yankees victory, Rivera’s 1-0 pitch to Jason Bay sailed to deep left center and as much as he tried to will the ball to stay in, it cleared the high wall of the Green Monster to tie the game at four and send it in to extra innings.
Kevin Youkilis would send the Red Sox fans home happy with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th for a 5-4 victory in a game where “The Rivalry” lived up to everything you could have asked for in the first of its 19 installments.
For Rivera, it was the 11th in his career that he had blown a save to Boston. It is an incredible number when you consider that he has blown 60 total in all of his years as a closer. The Red Sox hit him better than other team has and though he has closed them out the last 13 times, he was unable to do it for the 14th.
Starter Joba Chamberlain battled control issues for most of his 5 1/3 innings, but was able to induce four double play outs from Red Sox hitters. He threw 91 pitches, but only 49 strikes and walked four batters while striking out only two.
The first run of the game came on a wild pitch from Chamberlain as his slider bounced past catcher Jose Molina and went to the backstop as Jacoby Ellsbury was attempting to steal third base. With presence of mind, Ellsbury raced to the plate as Joba was slow to cover home. Molina’s throw home was too late to beat speedster.
Answering back in the fourth, Cody Ransom’s liner stayed fair inside the third base line for a run scoring double to tie the game. An RBI groundout by Jeter scored Molina to give the Yankees the lead.
Chamberlain would give the lead back in the bottom of the sixth when after Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek reached on a double and single, shortstop and former Yankee Nick Green tied the game with single to score Lowell.
The Yankees would take the lead again in the seventh when Mark Teixeira introduced himself to “The Rivalry” by looping a shallow fly into centerfield scoring Jeter. Robinson Cano followed with a sac fly to extend the lead to 4-2.
In the ninth, there was a golden opportunity to break the game open. The Yankees had the bases loaded and no one out against lefty reliever Javier Lopez. However, with the infield playing in, Cano’s hard hit grounder turned into a 4-2-3 double play and Melky Cabrera’s pop out ended the threat. On the night, the team left 15 men on base.
That set the stage for a Red Sox comeback against Rivera in the bottom of the inning.
Jon Papelbon entered the game in the tenth and immediately gave up a leadoff single to Molina. After successive outs by Ramiro Pena (sacrifice) and Jeter (groundout), it set up a battle between the Boston closer and Teixeira after Johnny Damon walked.
With the crowd rising in anticipation, the count ran to 3-2. Papelbon unleashed a high fastball shoulder high that Teixeira swung through to end the inning.
Damaso Marte relieved Rivera and pitched a scoreless tenth. He would not be as lucky in the eleventh after striking out David Ortiz (who struck out four times). His 2-2 pitch to Youkilis landed in the Monster Seats and the Red Sox came away with a win.
The tough loss though will have to be forgotten about quickly. A mid-afternoon start tomorrow at Fenway features Josh Beckett for Boston and AJ Burnett, who will be making his first foray into “The Rivalry” for the Yankees.
Game time is at 4:10 ET.
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