BOSTON – Fenway Park and AJ Burnett have not been on the best of terms since he has become a Yankee.
Once an unhittable, dominant force against the Red Sox in this park during his time with the Blue Jays, things have changed dramatically.
Burnett, after a great beginning to his season saw it all come to a halt, bombed by Boston again and having to walk off the mound with his head down as the Red Sox were able to salvage the final game of the three game series 9-3 in front of 37, 618 at Fenway Park to avoid a sweep.
He has been typically in command for his first five starts of the season while going 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA. However, in the third, things disintegrated quickly in the third.
In the inning prior, the Red Sox scored the games' first run when the inning should have been over.
Burnett induced Jeremy Hermida into a routine fly ball to left. Marcus Thames camped under the ball and then had it bounce off his glove for an error, allowing J.D Drew to score.
Problems arose for Burnett in the third after walking Marco Scutaro to lead off the inning and then giving up a double to Dustin Pedroia. After getting Victor Martinez to ground back to the mound, he walked Kevin Youkilis to load the bases.
Drew hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Scutaro to make it 2-0. Yet Burnett was never able to get that final out of the inning. David Ortiz would drill a ground-rule double to right, driving in two to up the margin to four. Adrian Beltre would then double to left-center to drive in two more and Hermida’s RBI single left inflated the Red Sox lead to 6-0.
With the bullpen soaking up 4 1/3 innings due to the rain delay forcing CC Sabathia to give only 4 2/3 innings the day before, Burnett was now in need of taking one for the team despite not having his best stuff on a night where his fastball seemed to move toward the middle of the plate.
The lead was more than enough for Red Sox starter Jon Lester, who brought stability to a Boston starting staff given much hype before the season but performing way below expectations.
He held the Yankees hitless through the first three innings before Nick Swisher hit a homerun over the Green Monster in left to make it 5-1. Alex Rodriguez then followed with a home run of his own, just barely clearing the top of the big wall.
For Rodriguez (1-for-3), it was his first homerun in 61 at-bats and third of the season.
Youkilis responded with a run-scoring double and when Hermida connected on a high fastball deposited into the bullpen in right, the Red Sox had put a hurt on the Yankee right-hander. Joe Girardi came to the mound and it marked the end of his night.
In 4 1/3, Burnett gave up nine hits and eight runs, walking three and striking out four in 97 tedious pitches.
The nine runs given up were a season high for any Yankee starter this season and marked the first opposing pitcher since 1952 to allow eight earned runs on three different occasions at Fenway Park.
Since joining the Yankees, in five starts in Boston, Burnett’s ERA is a horrifying 12.68.
The offense, bombs away on Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz in the two previous games could not muster much against Lester. After the fourth inning Rodriguez homerun, no Yankee hitter reached second base.
In seven innings, Lester stifled the Yankees, giving up only four hits and two runs, while walking two and striking out seven over 102 pitches. The bottom of the lineup, a force over the first two games of the series, went a combined 1-for-14. He also did not allow a hit over the final eight batters he faced.
Recent call-up Romulo Sanchez pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings for the Yankees, walking one and striking out three. Manny Delcarmen and Tim Wakefield finished the game for the Red Sox, as the last two innings resembled spring training in Tampa.
The loss drops the Yankees to 21-9, with still a six game advantage over the Red Sox in the standings. Tomorrow night, the team travels to Detroit to begin a four-game series with the Tigers.
Because of the re-shuffling with the pitching staff due to moving Javier Vazquez out of the rotation for this series and Andy Pettitte’s elbow inflammation, Sergio Mitre will get the start on Monday night.
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