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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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BOSTON STRONG - September 8, 2013 ... Mariano Rivera stood at the back of the Yankee Stadium mound, hands on hips, wearing a mystified gaze. He was certain that Will Middlebrooks' drive to right field was a routine fly ball, and could not compute how it had landed in the fifth row. Rivera got through the eighth inning but needed 20 pitches. Rivera's third pitch of the ninth inning was a cutter up and over the plate and Middlebrooks drove it over the fence in right field for his 15th home run. It was the second blown save of the series for Rivera. Rivera may have blown the save in the ninth inning, but the Yankees salvaged the afternoon. Ichiro Suzuki raced home on a Brandon Workman wild pitch, stomping on the plate with the deciding run of a 4-3 win over the Red Sox on Sunday at Yankee Stadium. For the Yankees, it was their first walkoff on a wild pitch in 36 years and it kept them breathing in the American League wild-card race. The Yankees had gone to Rivera in the eighth, hoping he could notch the two-inning save. Despite giving up the homer to Middlebrooks, Rivera still got the win. Even in defeat, the Red Sox continue to show they're never out of a game. Ichiro Suzuki opened the winning rally for the Yankees with a single to center against Workman. Ichiro stole second and moved to third on a flyout to right by Vernon Wells. With Alfonso Soriano batting, Workman's wild pitch soared off the glove of catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Jon Lester went eight innings, giving up 10 hits and three runs. He walked one and struck out six, taking a no-decision. Lester shut down the Yankees for the first three innings, but he gave up an RBI double to Mark Reynolds in the fourth to tie the game. The Red Sox took a quick lead in the top of the second when David Ortiz belted a double to right and Mike Carp followed with an RBI double. The Yankees took advantage of some well-placed hits in the fifth, blooping in three straight to load the bases with one out. After a strikeout by Soriano, Robinson Cano came up with a big two-run double to give New York a 3-1 lead. Ortiz opened the sixth with a double and scored on a fielder's-choice grounder by Saltalamacchia to make it a one-run game. Middlebrooks completed the comeback, but it didn't last long. Hiroki Kuroda threw a season-high 117 pitches over six innings. He allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts. The righthander had allowed 19 earned runs over 23 innings in his previous four starts but cooled down the Red Sox. Jacoby Ellsbury has been diagnosed with a compression fracture in his right foot. But according to Red Sox manager John Farrell, the team's leadoff hitter and center fielder should be back before the end of the regular season. Ellsbury is hitting .299 with eight home runs, 52 RBIs, and a major-league leading 52 stolen bases. His leads the team with 89 runs. The Red Sox recalled righthander Allen Webster from Triple A Pawtucket and will use him out of the bullpen. The 23-year-old was 1-2 with a 9.57 ERA in six starts for the Sox this season and 8-4 with a 3.60 ERA in 21 starts for Pawtucket. |
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