Boston Red Sox 4 — New York Yankees 7
In the third of four games with the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees bats show signs of the potential expected of them.
With two outs in the first inning, Jacoby Ellsbury dropped down a bunt and kept the inning alive and Carlos Beltran did the damage. On an 0-2 pitch from John Lackey, Beltran would hit his second home run of the season and put the Yankees ahead by two. Unfortunately, Hiroki Kuroda would not respond well to the lead and lost the lead when A.J. Pierzynski put up a two-run home run in the top of the second inning.
The home runs would keep coming and it would come out in the fourth inning.
Struggling at 6-for-37 in the season, Brian McCann had his coming out party today. He opened the fourth inning with a deep homee run to right field, his first home run as a Yankee. Alfonso Soriano would go back-to-back with McCann and hit his third home run of the season as the Yankees would pull ahead by two again.
In the fifth inning, Kuroda got into some hot water when a leadoff double by Dustin Pedroia would move to second with one out and the heart of the lineup coming up. David Ortiz would harmlessly pop out to the left side of the shifted infield where Dean Anna roamed by his lonesome. Mike Napoli would fly out to Ellsbury and Kuroda escaped trouble unharmed.
In the sixth inning, Carlos Beltran led off with a double to deep right center field and Brian McCann liked his first home run so much that he did it twice. This home run, a two-run home run to deep right center field, is his second of the game and of the season.
In the seventh inning, Kuroda started running out of gas as he walked two sandwiched around a strikeout of Dustin Pedroia before he was taken out of the game. Lefty Matt Thornton would inherit two baserunners to face David Ortiz. Thornton would benefit from a high strike three call and Ortiz was gone looking at strikes. Napoli would be hit by a pitch and Mike Carp would come through with a single to score two runs, making it a two-run game. With the righty, Xander Bogaerts up to bat, Dellin Betances would get the call. Betances’ power fastball helped in its own way as Carp would make a poor decision to attempt stealing second base, caught by Brian McCann and ending the inning.
In 6.1 innings, Hiroki Kuroda allowed four runs, two came in after his exit, on six hits with three walks and striking out five.
Adam Warren came in after one out on the bases for Betances, with a two-run lead as the setup man in the eighth inning. Warren would execute with precision control and sharp pitches to get a pair of strikeouts around a ground out to shortstop. Kelly Johnson would add the fifth home run of the game for a little more insurance runs for current closer Shawn Kelley.
Staked to a loss in his last appearance against the Baltimore Orioles, giving up two runs on four hits in an inning of work, Kelley looked to rebound and get his second career save.With two fly outs and a harmless groundout, Kelley notched his second save and rebounded well in a 14-pitch outing.
In the first 11 games of the season, the Yankees had 7 home runs. In today’s game, the Yankees had five home runs. The bats are getting hot.
Win – Hiroki Kuroda (2-1)
Loss – John Lackey (2-1)
Save – Shawn Kelley (2)
Notables
Red Sox
*A.J. Pierzynski – 2 for 4, R, Two-Run Home Run (1) in the 2nd, 2 RBI (4)
*Mike Carp – 1 for 4, 2 RBI (2)
Yankees
*Brian McCann – 2 for 4, 2 R, 2 HR (2; Solo & Two-Run) in the 4th & 6th inning, 3 RBI (6)
*Carlos Beltran – 2 for 4, 2 R, 2B, Two-Run Home Run (2) in the 1st inning, 2 RBI (6)
Current Yankees Record: 6-6
