April 14, 2005 ... On a night in which Terry Francona and hitting coach Ron Jackson were ejected, the Sox scored three runs in the eighth inning, snapping a 5-5 tie for an 8-5 victory at Fenway Park. In a fiery eighth, Edgar Renteria (three RBIs) doubled in Johnny Damon for a 6-5 lead, and Jason Varitek tripled down the right-field line, scoring two more. Gary Sheffield, who tracked down Varitek's hit, swung at a fan before throwing the ball to the infield. The fan had reached over the wall and swung an arm at Sheffield as he attempted to field Varitek's bounding hit.

Keith Foulke pitched two eventful innings and he had the tying run at the plate with no outs in the ninth, for the save in a game that was overshadowed by the contretemps in the eighth.

Jay Payton, 9 for 40 career against Randy Johnson with a homer and seven RBIs coming into last night, went down and got a 94-mile- per-hour Johnson fastball in the second inning, launching it into the second row of the bleachers in center to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. Renteria, who came in hitting .219 with no home runs and four RBIs, then deposited an 82-m.p.h. Johnson slider into Row 1 of the Monster seats in the third, staking the Sox to a 4-1 lead.

That evaporated in the fourth, when the Yankees batted around and the usual pacific Sox hitting coach, Jackson, was ejected. The Yankees loaded the bases on a Tino Martinez single, Bernie Williams walk (after Bronson Arroyo was ahead 1 and 2), and a Derek Jeter walk. With two outs, up came Gary Sheffield. The Yankees were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and probably should have been 1 for 9.

Arroyo went after Sheffield with off-speed stuff. The count went full, and Arroyo threw a 76-m.p.h. curveball that was dead center of the strike zone. The Sheffield walk pulled the Yankees to within 4-2. Hideki Matsui then singled to right, tying the game at 4-4. Alex Rodriguez capped the inning, blooping a single to right that scored Sheffield for a 5-4 Yankees' lead.

Varitek tied the game the bottom of the inning with a shot that screamed over the Sports Authority sign atop the Monster seats. The homer was Varitek's 100th as a Red Sox, making him one of only 26 players in club history with 100 home runs. His team-leading third homer was also the team's third of the game against Johnson.

Randy Johnson gave up three home runs in a game for just the 11th time since be broke into the big leagues in 1988. The last time was Aug. 15, 2003, when Braves Vinny Castilla, Marcus Giles, and Andruw Jones all homered. That tied it at 5-5, and that was about all Francona got to see. Two batters later, Bill Mueller took a 1-and-2 pitch low and in. Gibson called it a strike. Francona hopped up out of the dugout, knowing he was going to be tossed. Gibson reach back, pump faked, then reached back again and tossed the Sox skipper, putting bench coach Brad Mills back in position to manage at least part of a game for the fourth time this season.

Arroyo, still pitching despite facing nine batters in the fourth inning, retired the next five batters before allowing a two-out single to Sheffield in the sixth. He was lifted after allowing five runs on nine hits and four walks. He recorded just one strikeout, and it wasn't until the 29th batter he faced. The Sheffield at-bat cost Arroyo four of those five runs.

Johnson recorded nine strikeouts in seven innings, nearly matching his total of 10 in his two previous starts this season. Johnson went six innings, conceding just one run on five hits, two walks, and six strikeouts. Five of the six K's were looking. This time, five of the nine strikeouts were swinging, including two by Mark Bellhorn, giving him 15 in 30 at-bats. Johnson gave up five runs on five hits and two walks.

Foulke came on in the eighth and walked Tino Martinez. Bubba Crosby, pinch running, stole second, but Bernie Williams struck out looking and Tony Womack went down swinging. Jeter flied to deep right to end the inning.

It was 43 degrees at game time, even colder than the last two games, both played with a game-time temperature of 46.  Seated in the boxes along the right-field line, Doug Flutie caught a foul ball off the bat of Tino Martinez in the second inning. Flutie brought his glove to the game.