July 7, 2012

G85: Red Sox 9, Yankees 5

Yankees - 300 000 101 - 5  6  4
Red Sox - 001 013 40x - 9 17  2
Ninth-place hitter Pedro Ciriaco went 4-for-5, with two doubles and four RBI. His three-run double in the sixth inning wiped out the Yankees' one-run advantage and gave Boston a 5-3 lead. He doubled and stole third in the seventh, scoring on Russell Martin's errant throw, one of four New York errors. And he made a couple of dazzling plays in the field, earning himself a standing ovation (and chants of "Pedro, Pedro, Pedro!") when he batted in the eighth. It was a thrilling game on 7/7 for #77.

[Ciriaco is a 26-year-old career minor leaguer, who had only 40 plate appearances (in 31 games) for the Pirates in 2010-11.]

It was a game in which the bottom of the lineup shone; the #8 and #9 spots had nearly half (eight) of Boston's 17 hits. Mauro Gomez went 3-for-4, with two doubles and three runs scored. The top four hitters had a total of five hits, one RBI, and no runs scored.

Adrian Gonzalez doubled twice and singled, extending his hitting streak to 18 games. Nick Punto and David Ortiz both had two hits and a walk.

The Yankees jumped out to yet another first-inning lead. Derek Jeter reached second base on a rare double error by Gomez at third. Curtis Granderson bunted towards Gomez and beat the throw for a single. Then Mark Teixeira belted a 1-0 pitch to dead center for a three-run homer. (That's 12 runs for New York in the three first innings of this series.)

After that, Felix Doubront (6.1-4-4-1-6, 101) allowed only two hits and one walk to the next 22 batters. While he was dominating the New Yorkers, his teammates were chipping away at Phil Hughes (5.1-10-5-1-3, 97).

Gomez doubled to begin the third, took third on Ciriaco's bunt single to third, and scored on Daniel Nava's double play grounder. Ciricao singled in the fourth, raced to third when Granderson (wary of a collision in right-center with Darnell McDonald) made a two-base error on Nava's fly ball. Punto's sac fly scored Ciriaco.

In the sixth, Gonzalez singled and Cody Ross reached on Jeter's fielding error. After Ryan Sweeney fouled out, Gomez singled to load the bases. Ciriaco lined a shot past third baseman Jayson Nix, down the line towards the corner. Andruw Jones got to the ball, then fell down on it, allowing all three runners to score without a play. Boone Logan came in and walked Punto and Ortiz, reloading the bases, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia struck out (one of four whiffs for Salty).

Doubront allowed a solo shot to Jones in the top of the seventh, so Boston led 5-4 after the stretch. They quickly scored four runs. Gonzalez doubled to dead center and, with one out, Sweeney tripled into the triangle (6-4), Gomez doubled down the left field line (7-4), and Ciriaco singled off Nix's glove at third (8-4).

The Yankees, down by five, threatened to come back in the top of the eighth. Clay Mortensen loaded the bases on a single and two walks. With one out, Vicente Padilla came in to face Jones, who had already hit three dongs in the series. Jones swung at the first pitch and fouled out to Saltalamacchia near the third base on-deck circle. Raul Ibanez hit for Nix and Padilla got him to foul out to Salty, as well!
Example
Phil Hughes / Felix Doubront
Nava, LF
Punto, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Saltalamacchia, C
Gonzalez, 1B
Ross, RF
Sweeney, CF
Gomez, 3B
Ciriaco, SS

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