Red Sox Walk-Off to Reclaim AL East Lead
By Editorial Staff
After dropping this weekend’s series opener to the Yankees, Boston came back to win the next two and reclaim sole command of first place in the AL East.
Boston’s bats were able to get to C.C. Sabathia Saturday, but had more trouble with Freddy Garcia and New York’s run of relievers last night.
The Red Sox got the scoring started on a Marco Scutaro RBI single, but the Yankees reclaimed the lead on solo shots from two unlikely sluggers, Eduardo Nunez and Brett Gardner.
With the score remaining 2-1 into the 9th, Mariano Rivera came on to shut the door for New York.
But again Scutaro connected for the Sox, this time with a leadoff double against the future Hall of Famer. The red hot Jacoby Ellsbury showed that can do something other than hit walk-offs, laying down a sacrifice to move Scutaro to third. Dustin Pedroia then extended the game for the Sox with a sac fly to left, handing Rivera his 5th blown save of the season.
Boston eventually went on to win it in the bottom of the 10th on a Josh Reddick RBI single.
The Red Sox, who became the second team in the bigs to reach 70 wins, are headed west for a pair of three game sets against the Twins and Mariners. New York heads home but will face stronger competition in the form of Tampa Bay and the Angels.
New York and Boston have two more series remaining, the next again taking place in Boston at the end of August.
For more on the Red Sox and Yankees, be sure to check out BoSox Injection and Yanks Go Yard.