YANKS LOSE SERIES TO BOSTON; CIRIACO IS A PEST

It was a tough loss to the archrival Boston Red Sox, in spite of the fact that Hiroki Kuroda pitched brilliantly. He pitched into the eighth, giving up only two runs, walking one, and striking out four. His control was excellent, not throwing his 100th pitch until the eighth. Despite what you see in the box score, he pitched better than Felix Doubront did. Nevertheless, the hitting support was not there until late in the game for the Yankees.

Felix Doubront, who has been hot and cold all season, had a hot and cold night for the Red Sox. As is typical for him, he struggled with his control as he gave up five walks over 6 1/3 innings. At times, he looked strong, getting ahead in the count early and making Yankee hitters chase pitches out of the strike zone. At other times, he just could not throw a strike. Still, he kept the Yankees scoreless until the seventh.

Russell Martin showed some real clutch hitting, hitting a homer in the bottom of the seventh, and bringing the team and the crowd to life. Ichiro Suzuki followed with an infield single and a stolen base to get to second. Derek Jeter (aka Mr. Clutch) came through for a base hit to move Ichiro to third. However, that was as far as they could get in the seventh. Later in the 8th, following an Andruw Jones 2-out double, Martin hit a hard grounder up the middle for a base hit to tie the game.

After Rafael Soriano held down the Red Sox in the ninth, David Robertson put the first two men on base in the top of the 10th. Pedro Ciriaco's flair into right field brought Jarrod Saltalamacchia in for the go-ahead third run. That third run would be all the Red Sox needed. In the process, Bobby Valentine and Josh Beckett were ejected for arguing what was correctly called a strike, after Will Middlebrooks was hit by a pitch on a bunt attempt, failing to bring his bat back.

(In Photo: Pedro Ciriaco)

Andruw Jones is showing his lack of fielding range. Admittedly, I have noticed in games lately that he is not running down the line hard on grounders and fly balls. However, we really saw it in this game. Most observers agree that Ryan Sweeney's hit could have been held to a single, but for Andruw Jones' inability to get in front of it. Later in the 7th inning, a ball dropped for a hit that should have been caught, except that Jones could not get there in time. This is where the Ichiro Suzuki acquisition is going to start paying dividends.

• The Yankee infield showed a lot of skill tonight, turning four double plays, each of them taking away scoring opportunities from the Red Sox. An honorable mention goes to Jayson Nix, who started two of those double plays, and looked defensively solid at the hot corner.

• Another honorable mention goes to Raul Ibanez, who battled Boston closer Alfredo Aceves for a 9-pitch at-bat that included some very hard hit balls, but ultimately ended in a strikeout and the end of the game.

Final Score: Red Sox 3, Yankees 2 (10)

Tonight the Yanks play the Orioles. Let's turn it around guys!

 

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Writer




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