G2: Red Sox 7, Yankees 4

Red Sox - 114 001 000 - 7 13  0
Yankees - 000 100 030 - 4  9  1

The Red Sox put this one away early, scoring six runs on ten hits in the first three innings. Five of the nine starters had two hits. Jackie Bradley collected his first major league hit - an RBI single in the third - and scored two runs.

It was a cold night in the Bronx. NESN reported the game time temperature at 41 degrees, with the wind chill at 28.

Kuroda (1.1-4-2-1-1, 41) was out of sync from the beginning of the game. Singles by Daniel Nava, Dustin Pedroia, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia got Boston on the board in the first inning. Shane Victorino began the second with a single, a line drive up the middle that Kuroda tried to catch bare-handed. The ball bruised his right middle finger, and Kuroda would stay in the game for only four more batters. He hit Bradley in the leg with a 1-2 pitch. Jose Iglesias forced Victorino at third. Jacoby Ellsbury walked, loading the bases. Kuroda then plunked Nava, forcing in a run. New York manager Joe Girardi had seen enough at that point.

Cody Eppley came in and got a double play, but he fell apart in the third. Saltalamacchia singled with one out, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on Victorino's two-out single. With Bradley batting, Victorino stole second and came around on the rookie's single up the middle. Iglesias doubled down the left field line and - after a pitching change - he and Bradley scored on Ellsbury's hard single to center.

It's not every day you see a reliever throw 86 pitches, but that's what Adam Warren did for New York, going 5.1 innings. Pedroia's grounder scored the final Boston run in the sixth.

Clay Buchholz (7-6-1-2-4, 94) retired the side in order only twice, but kept the Yankees off the scoreboard, save for a home run by Travis Hafner in the fourth. Vernon Wells hit a three-run bomb off Alfredo Aceves in the eighth.

Clay Buchholz / Hiroki Kuroda

Ellsbury, CF
Nava, DH
Pedroia, 2B
Napoli, 1B
Saltalamacchia, C
Middlebrooks, 3B
Victorino, RF
Bradley, LF
Iglesias, SS

The Red Sox have not begun a season with two wins since 1999.

Note: I think my usual pattern this season - as I work on the 2004 book that will be out next spring - will be to put up a game post early in the morning, so if anyone wants to post a comment or link to any news article, they can. And, of course, the game threads will continue to be here.