Reddick’s hit in 10th beats NY, wins series.
The Red Sox and Yankees are virtually equal in every possible way except one: when they actually play each other.
Last night the Sox completed a taxing weekend series against their rivals with a walkoff 3-2 victory in 10 innings at Fenway Park. Josh Reddick did the honors with a line-drive single to left field off Phil Hughes.
The winning run was only made possible because the Sox did what they’ve done more than any team in history — get to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who blew his 14th save against them by allowing Marco Scutaro’s leadoff double and Dustin Pedroia’s tying sacrifice fly.
While Scutaro (4-for-4) and Reddick were obvious heroes, the game ultimately came down to the respective bullpens, the one area where the Yankees were supposed to hold a clear, albeit slight, advantage. Their 3.07 bullpen ERA entering the game led the AL, four spots ahead of the Red Sox (3.50).
After Matt Albers surrendered the go-ahead homer to light-hitting Brett Gardner in the seventh, the quartet of Franklin Morales, Dan Wheeler, Jonathan Papelbon, and Daniel Bard held the Yankees scoreless.
“I’d put us up against anybody,” Bard said. “Not just the numbers, but the depth. Everyone wants to pitch. I’ve been in bullpens where guys didn’t want the ball. We’ve got guys that’ll take the ball in any situation — seven of them out there. Eight of them, actually. When it’s all said and done, I think we’ll be saying this is one of the better ’pens in the league and maybe that we’ve had in a while.”
The Sox had more depth last night, winning it against former starter Hughes, who allowed a one-out double to David Ortiz, an intentional walk to Carl Crawford (three hits) and a walkoff single by Reddick that scored pinch-runner Darnell McDonald.
“He’s not intimidated by anyone,” starter Josh Becket said of Reddick.
That the game would stretch into a second day and take 4 hours, 15 minutes to play was fitting. The Red Sox guaranteed themselves a winning record in the season series for the first time since 2004.
The Yankees were hoping for a drama-free finish, but it didn’t happen.
After Rafael Soriano and David Robertson pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, respectively, Rivera got ahead of Scutaro 0-2 before the shortstop ripped a double high off The Wall.
Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a sacrifice bunt, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi left himself open to some second-guessing by electing to pitch to Pedroia with first base open rather than intentionally walk him and set up the double play for the slow-footed Adrian Gonzalez.
Neither option was palatable, to be sure, but Pedroia made the Yankees pay when he ripped the game-tying sacrifice fly to left field.
Up until that point, the pace was such that commisioner Bud Selig probably considered firing off an angry memo. Both Beckett and Yankees counterpart Freddy Garcia were deliberate, to say the least, perhaps sensing the game would be decided by a mistake.
Offense was hard to come by on both sides.
The winning run was only made possible because the Sox did what they’ve done more than any team in history — get to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who blew his 14th save against them by allowing Marco Scutaro’s leadoff double and Dustin Pedroia’s tying sacrifice fly.
The victory means the Red Sox are now 10-2 against the Yankees and gave them a one-game lead atop the AL East.
“Sometimes you just don’t have explanations,” manager Terry Francona said. “Right now we’ve beaten them more than they’ve beaten us. That’s all I know. Other teams have done it to us. It’s kind of a crazy game.”While Scutaro (4-for-4) and Reddick were obvious heroes, the game ultimately came down to the respective bullpens, the one area where the Yankees were supposed to hold a clear, albeit slight, advantage. Their 3.07 bullpen ERA entering the game led the AL, four spots ahead of the Red Sox (3.50).
After Matt Albers surrendered the go-ahead homer to light-hitting Brett Gardner in the seventh, the quartet of Franklin Morales, Dan Wheeler, Jonathan Papelbon, and Daniel Bard held the Yankees scoreless.
“I’d put us up against anybody,” Bard said. “Not just the numbers, but the depth. Everyone wants to pitch. I’ve been in bullpens where guys didn’t want the ball. We’ve got guys that’ll take the ball in any situation — seven of them out there. Eight of them, actually. When it’s all said and done, I think we’ll be saying this is one of the better ’pens in the league and maybe that we’ve had in a while.”
The Sox had more depth last night, winning it against former starter Hughes, who allowed a one-out double to David Ortiz, an intentional walk to Carl Crawford (three hits) and a walkoff single by Reddick that scored pinch-runner Darnell McDonald.
“He’s not intimidated by anyone,” starter Josh Becket said of Reddick.
That the game would stretch into a second day and take 4 hours, 15 minutes to play was fitting. The Red Sox guaranteed themselves a winning record in the season series for the first time since 2004.
The Yankees were hoping for a drama-free finish, but it didn’t happen.
After Rafael Soriano and David Robertson pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, respectively, Rivera got ahead of Scutaro 0-2 before the shortstop ripped a double high off The Wall.
Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a sacrifice bunt, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi left himself open to some second-guessing by electing to pitch to Pedroia with first base open rather than intentionally walk him and set up the double play for the slow-footed Adrian Gonzalez.
Neither option was palatable, to be sure, but Pedroia made the Yankees pay when he ripped the game-tying sacrifice fly to left field.
Up until that point, the pace was such that commisioner Bud Selig probably considered firing off an angry memo. Both Beckett and Yankees counterpart Freddy Garcia were deliberate, to say the least, perhaps sensing the game would be decided by a mistake.
Offense was hard to come by on both sides.
The Red Sox struck first in the second inning, with Scutaro driving home Kevin Youkilis with a single.
New York tied the game in the fifth on Eduardo Nunez’ solo homer into the Monster seats.
New York tied the game in the fifth on Eduardo Nunez’ solo homer into the Monster seats.
Neither starter lasted more than six innings. Garcia threw 96 pitches in five innings, while Beckett tossed 101 in six.
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