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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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BOSTON STRONG - September 5, 2013 ... In an ultimately rewarding 9-8 victory over the Yankees in 10 innings, the Red Sox again proved why resilience has been one of their key buzzwords this season. The Yankees, down 7-2, surged back for six runs in a stunning bottom of the seventh to take the lead. The Red Sox were down to their final out against Mariano Rivera and the bases were empty in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. It started with Mike Napoli, down to his team's last strike, going the other way for a single to right-center. Quintin Berry came on as a pinch-runner and gave Boston fans visions of Dave Roberts from the 2004 American League Championship Series when he stole second and moved to third on catcher Austin Romine's throwing error. In 22 career stolen-base attempts in the Majors, Berry has never been thrown out. Berry's crucial steal set up Stephen Drew. Drew's smacked a single and sent the game into extra innings. The Sox rolled on, beating the Yankees, 9-8, before a stunned crowd of 40,481. In his final season, it was Rivera's sixth blown save in 47 opportunities. The Sox surged back in front in the 10th. Jacoby Ellsbury belted a one-out single to right against Joba Chamberlain and stole second. Shane Victorino, who has come through with countless big hits in the late innings this season, did it again by smacking a go-ahead RBI single to right. It was the 10th win in the past 12 games for the surging Red Sox and it cooled off the Yankees, who had won seven out of 10 heading into this four-game rivalry showdown. Of the 85 wins the Red Sox have had this season, this one ranked as one of the sweetest.
After Matt Thornton and Junichi Tazawa faltered so dramatically in the seventh, Craig Breslow gave the Sox just what they needed, firing two scoreless innings to earn the win. Red-hot closer Koji Uehara worked a scoreless 10th to earn the save. The right-hander has retired the last 24 batters he's faced and has a 1.14 ERA on the season. This was Uehara's 23d consecutive scoreless appearance, totaling 25 innings. Of the last 83 batters he has faced, only seven have reached base. The Red Sox opened their lead to a season-high 6 1/2 games in the AL East, reducing their magic number to 16. Jake Peavy's rivalry debut looked like it was going to lead to his first win in five career starts against the Yankees. When Peavy took the mound to open that fateful seventh, he had a commanding 7-2 lead. After he gave up a walk to Ichiro Suzuki and a single to Vernon Wells to reach 117 pitches, Farrell came out to get him. Once Peavy left, everything went downhill for a while. Lefty Thornton was the first one out of the bullpen, and he gave the Yankees life. Brett Gardner greeted him with an RBI single. Derek Jeter drew a walk. Wells stole third, which became important when Robinson Cano drove him home on a fielder's-choice grounder. Clinging to a 7-4 lead, Farrell went to righty Tazawa. That didn't go well either. Alfonso Soriano stroked an opposite-field RBI single. Curtis Granderson belted an RBI double to right to make it a one-run game, 7-6 Tazawa got a temporary reprieve when he struck out Alex Rodriguez. But the benefit of that strikeout was nullified when Lyle Overbay ripped a two-run single through the hole at second base and into right. With the crowd roaring with approval, the Yankees suddenly had an 8-7 lead. The Yankees sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning, scoring six runs on five hits. Peavy was charged with four runs on six hits over six innings. But the Red Sox were still able to stay on course and pull out the win, even when Rivera had them down to their last strike. Both teams were hot coming into the game. The Yankees had won 12 of 17 since Ryan Dempster hit Alex Rodriguez at Fenway. The Rays were beaten by the Angels, 6-2, the Sox increasing their lead in the AL East to 6 1/2 games, their largest of the season. Clay Buchholz went 3 2/3 innings, threw 71 pitches (52 for strikes), and allowing two runs in Rochester, NY for the PawSox. Working more on command than velocity (he hit 93 miles per hour on the radar gun just once), Buchholz struck out five, all on curveballs, and walked two. |
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