False Advertisement: Pitcher's Duel Turned Slugfest by Jared Carrabis
Sox come back from 6-0 deficit and then some


In recognition of the NFL Draft being held on Saturday, the Red Sox and Yankees settled game two of this series with a football score.

If you enjoy pitcher's duels, this game looked like it was going to be the game for you, however, looks can be deceiving. With two names like "Josh Beckett" and "AJ Burnett" highlighting the marquee, no one could have fathomed the final outcome of this back and forth roller coaster ride of a baseball game. Between the two teams there were 28 hits, 6 HR and 27 runs scored. For the second consecutive meeting between the Red Sox and Yankees, it took four hours and twenty-one minutes to decide the winner, only this time this near five-hour game was completed in nine frames.

Josh Beckett was making his first start since returning from his five-game suspension, and he did not look like the Beckett that opened up the 2009 season at home for Boston. Entering Saturday afternoon's action, Beckett had not surrendered a home run during the regular season since September 16, 2008 against Tampa Bay.

On Saturday, lightning struck twice in the same place, as Beckett coughed up two longs balls in his worst start since his August 17th outing in 2008 that landed him on the disabled list quickly after. I'm not saying that Beckett is going to land on the disabled list, but I'm just stressing that this is the worst he has pitched since there has been something physically wrong with him. Beckett gave up eight earned runs in both starts.

"I felt good physically," Beckett said. "Obviously, the results were not exactly where you want them to be. Your team scores eight runs, and with anything less than a win, you feel pretty dismal. The guys kept fighting and battling. It shows the kind of character in this clubhouse. But from a personal standpoint, it's just frustrating."

The Yankee offense quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead with a pair of runs in the first, a pair of runs in the third after a ringing home run off the bat of Robinson Cano that crashed into Pesky's Pole and two more runs in the fourth on a 2-RBI double by Cano again. Trailing by six runs against Beckett's former teammate with the Florida Marlins, the Red Sox went to work against AJ Burnett who held a lifetime record of 5-0 against the Red Sox entering Saturday's game. What was even more scary was Burnett's 3-0 lifetime record with an ERA under one when pitching at Fenway Park.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Red Sox loaded the bases for Friday night's hero, Jason Bay. Bay (2-for-3) knocked a base hit through the left side on a 96 MPH fastball to drive in Dustin Pedroia to put the Sox on the board. Trailing 6-1 with two outs and the bases still loaded, Jason Varitek hacked away at the first pitch he saw from Burnett, launching the 96 MPH fastball to deep right field for a grand slam. The big blast for Tek was his fourth home run of the season and his third career grand slam, as he collected RBI's number 5, 6, 7, and 8.

After a one-two-three inning turned in by Josh Beckett in the top of the fifth, the Red Sox offense went to work in the bottom half. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the inning with a bomb into right field to tie the game at six. The solo shot for Ellsbury was his first of the season and his sixth RBI. To find the last time that the Yankees lost to the Red Sox have previously holding a 6+ run lead, you have to go all the way back to May 16, 1968 in a game where the Bombers led the Sox 9-3, before ultimately losing 11-10.

Later in the inning with two outs and men at second and third, Jason Bay launched an 84 MPH slider from Burnett high off the Green Monster. Bay's fifth double of the season scored David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis to give the Red Sox an 8-6 lead, chasing AJ Burnett from the game. After walking Derek Jeter to start the sixth, Josh Beckett served up a two-run shot to Johnny Damon on a 94 MPH fastball to tie the game at eight. Damon's third home run of the season ended the night for Beckett.

When the books were finally closed, Beckett had almost identical numbers to AJ Burnett. The two starters both only lasted five innings, Beckett gave up ten hits, Burnett gave up eight, the two starters gave up eight earned runs a piece, Beckett walked four batters, Burnett walked three. The two strikeout pitchers only K'd three batters each and they both watched two balls leave the park on a pitch that had originally left their hand. Who would have thought we would see two abysmal lines from not just one, but both of these "aces." Beckett's ERA jumped from 3.79 at the start of the game to an even 6.00 when it was all said and done.

Tied at eight in the bottom of the sixth, David Ortiz came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. With the chance to pull away from the Yankees, Ortiz flied out to right field, allowing Nick Green to tag up and score, breaking the tie. Dustin Pedroia made a poor base running mistake, as he tried to tag up and advance to second on the play, but was instead thrown out. The Red Sox would have had runners at the corners with two outs and Kevin Youkilis at the plate, but instead they got one run out of a sacrifice fly double play

With two outs and two men in scoring position for Manny Delcarmen, who was the first out of the bullpen in relief of Beckett, Johnny Damon hit a ground ball right through the legs of Dustin Pedroia. The first error of the season for Pedroia allowed two runs to score, as the Yankees reclaimed the lead, 10-9.

"I overran it," Pedroia said. "It was hit real hard. I thought I was going to have to backhand it, and I kind of got to it quicker than I thought I was, and I kind of turned my glove over when I did that and it went between my legs. It's one of those things where he might have hooked it a little. It's kind of weird. I got to it too fast."

In the bottom half of the same inning, Mike Lowell picked up Pedroia by getting the runs back and then some. With one out and runners at the corners, Mike Lowell hammered his fourth home run of the season into the first row of the Monster seats. The three-run shot for Lowell gave the Red Sox a 12-10 lead and extended his hitting streak to nine games.

"That's what teammates are for," Pedroia said. "You never want to make errors. Obviously they happen, but you never want to make them in those situations. But he picked us up. Six RBIs in his last two at-bats? That's picking everybody up."

Clinging to a 13-11 lead in the bottom of the eighth, Mike Lowell returned to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. Lowell drove an 0-1 curveball off the Monster in left, driving in all three men on base, as he stood at second with his seventh double of the season. The Red Sox' third baseman finished the night going 2-for-5 with 6 RBI. You have to go all the way back to June 3, 2003 for the last time Mikey Lowell drove in six runs in a game.

"That was terrific," Francona spoke of Lowell's performance. "He was fired up. He ended up getting two huge hits and giving us a little breathing room."

The Red Sox held on to capture a 16-11 victory to secure a series win against the Yankees. With the win, the Red Sox now have won nine straight games. "They don't stop playing," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "It's gratifying."

The final game of this series features the match up of long-time Yankee veteran, Andy Pettitte, squaring off against 24-year-old, Justin Masterson, who is filling in for the fatigued Daisuke Matsuzaka. In Masterson's first two seasons at the Major League level, he has held his opponents to a .221 batting average as both a starter and a reliever. The last time Pettitte met the Red Sox, he was roughed up in the old Yankee Stadium in a 4.2 inning effort in which the Sox pounded out six runs on ten hits to make Pettitte the loser.

The Sox win this one by a field goal and a safety,
-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Yankees 11, Red Sox 16

Published on April 26, 2009

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