G153: Yankees 9, Red Sox 5

Red Sox - 000 102 020 - 5  8  0
Yankees - 104 102 10x - 9 14  0

Lester left the game in the third inning after being hit on the right knee (or the inside of the right knee) by Melky Cabrera. He was able to walk off the field on his own. X-rays were negative and Lester has a contusion on his right quad.

Lester (2.1-8-5-3-3, 78) had a rough outing from his very first pitch, which Derek Jeter grounded into center field.

Victor Martinez homered in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 24 games. (Chamberlain had retired the first 11 Boston batters.) Ortiz hit a two-run bomb in the sixth.

Jon Lester (3.33, 142 ERA+) / Joba Chamberlain (4.73, 94 ERA+)

Since May 31, Jon Lester has a 2.13 ERA, better than every major league pitcher except Felix Hernandez (1.99) over that time period.

5.5 GB with 10 games to play. Common sense says the Red Sox will not storm back and win the East (Baseball Prospectus puts the Sox's chances of doing so at 1.1%), but it remains possible.

Since August 10, when they were swept by the Yankees in a four-game series in New York, the Red Sox are 29-13 -- the best record in baseball over that span. At 91-61, Boston has the 3rd best record in baseball, after the Yankees (97-56) and Dodgers (92-61).

With Boston's Wild Card magic number at 3, the Red Sox could be the first team to pop champagne at the new Yankee Stadium. David Ortiz: "So we don't have to get our clubhouse dirty."

&: Rays/Rangers at 8.