Sox Win Third in a Row

Kelly was on his game today, firing seven innings of one-hit ball (Boston Globe)

Less than 12 hours after putting the Yankees to bed with a 6-5, 19-inning victory, the Red Sox ripped off another win versus their ancient foes. Boston beat New York 8-4, and thankfully needed only the requisite nine innings to do so this time.

With most of the position players still groggy from last night's marathon, starters Joe Kelly and Adam Warren encountered little resistance through the first six innings. Both teams plated a run in the second and Boston broke through for another in the fourth, but overall the bats were mostly quiet until the late innings. With both starters out of the game, however, the bats finally came alive.

The Red Sox pounced on Justin Wilson and Chris Martin for three runs in the top of the seventh, two on a double by Dustin Pedroia that sailed over Chris Young's head and bounced to the center field wall. Boston struck for three more in the top of the eighth against Matt Tracy, who was unfairly charged with three earned runs when Garrett Jones botched a two out fly ball off the bat of Brock Holt. The play was ruled a bases-clearing double for Holt--his fourth hit of the day.

Holt's hit/Jones's miscue put the game out of reach for New York, extending Boston's lead to 8-1. With Kelly gone after yielding just one hit through seven, the Yankees made some noise with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. After back-to-back singles by Gregorio Petit and Brett Gardner, Young yanked a hanging 0-2 slider from Alexi Ogando into the left field bleachers for a three-run homer. Not taking any chances, John Farrell lifted Ogando in favor of Anthony Varvaro, who finished off the inning by striking out Carlos Beltran (side-note: how washed up does he look right now?) on a foul tip.

The ninth saw both teams put a man in scoring position, but neither scored and that was that. Boston will look to sweep New York tomorrow night behind Clay Buchholz, fresh off a masterful Opening Day start in Philadelphia. The Yankees will try to salvage the series finale with Masahiro Tanaka on the bump, hoping Tanaka can put a rough start to the year behind him. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN starting at 8:05 PM EST.