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After a disappointing performance in Friday's series opener, the Red Sox routed the Yankees in New York, picking up 18 hits, 11 runs, and one game on the AL East competition.
The rout would take a few innings to get underway against Phil Hughes, but when it did, it began in earnest. Jackie Bradley Jr. would be the one to get it started, doubling to center, giving the Red Sox their second hit of the night. The third would come immediately after on a Daniel Nava single, as would the fourth--a double from Mike Carp which brought home the first run of the game.
After Hughes got Dustin Pedroia swinging for the first out of the inning, Joe Girardi called for an intentional walk of David Ortiz. Perhaps a wise strategy with one down and an up-and-down Mike Napoli batting behind him, but tonight a fatal mistake. Hughes would get ahead 0-2, but Napoli fouled off one strike and took a pair of balls to even the count at 2-2. The sixth pitch of the at bat was outside, and Napoli's swing was not one that looked hugely dangerous. But the combination of New Yankee Stadium and Napoli's sheer strength was enough. The ball floated back, back, and clearly out for a grand slam, leaving the Sox up 5-0.
With Felix Doubront having struggled through the first two innings, allowing five baserunners in the process, the game certainly didn't seem over. The bottom of the third, however, saw him allow just a weak flare of a single to Robinson Cano. The fourth provided more danger, with the first two batters reaching on singles, but Doubront did a good job to hold New York to just a sacrifice fly. He would close out his encouraging night by allowing just one single in the fifth and sixth, leaving New York trailing by four.
If the Sox had failed to well-and-truly put the game away in the middle innings, they erased any hopes for a Yankee comeback in the final two frames. In the eighth, after singles from Jackie Bradley Jr. and Jose Iglesias, it was Daniel Nava finding the seats in right field for Boston's second homer of the night, putting the Sox ahead 8-1. Stephen Drew would hit a homer of his own in the ninth, with three straight hits from Saltalamacchia, Iglesias, and Bradley helping to push across two more. When all was said and done, the Sox had scored 11, leaving the Yankees hopelessly behind.
