Red Sox Beat Yankees 8-7 In 11 Innings On Mike Napoli's 2nd Home Run of the Game

It took a combined 405 pitches (203 for New York and 202 for Boston) and four hours and 46 minutes but the Red Sox didn't mind at all since Mike Napoli sent Fenway Park home happy with a walk-off solo homer in the 11th off Adam Warren (1-1) for an 8-7 Red Sox (60-40 overall, 33-17 home) win over Yankees (52-46 overall, 24-23 away). Boston improved to 6-4 in extra innings this season and they won their ninth contest in walk-off fashion (tied for 2011 for the most since 2006).

The Red Sox took two of three from the Yankees this weekend to take a healthy seven-game lead over them and tonight it was about their offense coming through just enough to overcome three errors and an early 3-0 lead by the Yankees in the second inning plus a 7-3 led for the Red Sox that they blew. Boston knew that Tampa Bay and Baltimore-their main competitors in the AL East this season-had already won by the time this ended right before 1 a.m. EST so they had to win to keep the Rays 1.5 games behind and the Orioles 3.5 in back of Boston. The Red Sox still have the most wins in MLB although they've played four more games than the Cardinals (59 wins).

With Jon Lester's start getting pushed back a few extra days, Ryan Dempster got the ball and predictably pitched mediocre (5.1 innings, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, 6 hits, 4 strikeouts, 4 walks) but that's more than you can say for CC Sabathia. The former Yankees ace is a shell of himself for whatever reason: 5 innings, 7 earned runs, 9 hits, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks.

Brett Gardner (3 for 4 with run, RBI, 2 walks, stolen base) scored New York's first run on a throwing error by Boston. The Yankees tacked on another run thanks to Vernon Wells' RBI single and Robinson Cano's (3 for 5 with two RBIs and walk) RBI single in the second inning.

Boston got on the board in the third on Dustin Pedroia's RBI single then Napoli put them ahead with a three-run homer over the Monster (his 12th of the season). Shane Victorino's (2 hits, 2 stolen bases) high chopper to left field scored two runs in the fourth and Jonny Gomes cranked a solo homer over the Monster in the fifth (his 8th of the season) for a 7-3 Red Sox advantage. Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 4 with a double, run, walk and stolen base in the win.

Gardner and Cano chipped into the lead with a pair of RBI singles in the sixth while Chris Stewart's RBI single cut it to 7-6 and a run scored on a groundout. Eduardo Nunez was 3 for 4 with two runs and a stolen base.

Some of the more obscure members of the Red Sox bullpen saved them in this game: Matt Thornton pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts, Koji Uehara had a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts, rookie Drake Britton appeared for the second straight day and got a scoreless 10th before Pedro Beato (1-0) held serve for the home team in the 11th.

Tampa Bay (58-41 overall, 2nd in AL East) is the hottest team in MLB: a scorching 17-2 in their last 19 games and they come to Fenway for a pivotal four-game series beginning tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) with rookie Brandon Workman (0-0) facing Matt Moore (13-3). Lester (8-6) takes on Roberto Hernandez (5-10) on Tuesday (7:10, NESN), Felix Doubront (7-3) meets David Price (4-5) on Wednesday (7:10, NESN) and John Lackey (7-7) opposes Jeremy Hellickson (9-3) on Thursday (7:10, NESN).

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Josh Reddick's First Career Walk-Off Hit Sparks Red Sox' First Season Series Win Over Yankees Since 2004

Something about Sunday Night Baseball seems to bring out the drama for the Boston Red Sox.

While it's hard to top their 16-inning win over the Rays three weeks ago on July 17 (1-0 in Tampa Bay), tonight's 10-inning victory over the New York Yankees carried some extra significance for a couple reasons.

For starters, the 3-2 win at Fenway Park by the Red Sox (70-43) not only clinched the weekend series (2-1) and season series over New York (69-44)-it stands at 10-2 right now-but it put Boston back on top of the AL East by a game.

I'm not going to use the cliched term of magic but there was something in the foggy air as the Red Sox rallied for a run against the greatest closer in MLB history (Mariano Rivera) in the ninth to tie it 2-2 on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly (scoring Marco Scutaro).

Then Josh Reddick picked a fine time for his first MLB walk-off hit as his RBI single drove in pinch runner Darnell McDonald in the tenth against Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes (2-4). David Ortiz (2 hits) had started the sequence with a ground-rule double to right, McDonald pinch ran for him and then Hughes intentionally walked Carl Crawford (3 hits) to get to Reddick.

The loss would have been particularly tough to take since Josh Beckett pitched well but Boston kept leaving runners on base (12) against Freddy Garcia and four other Yankees relievers before finally getting to Rivera and Hughes.

Beckett got a no-decision but it's safe to say that he still has New York locked down this season. As useless as CC Sabathia is against the Red Sox in 2011, Beckett is the opposite against the Yankees. Tonight, he went six innings, allowing one earned run on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Similar to Bartolo Colon on Friday, New York manager Joe Girardi didn't hesitate to get his overachieving starter out at the first sign of trouble. That sketchy strategy worked the first time but not the second time. It's hard to see it being successful in the playoffs either as the Yankees presumably will be relying heavily on their bullpen since outside of Sabathia who can they count on to go 6+ innings?

Garcia went five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with three walks and a strikeout.

Marco Scutaro (4 for 4) drove in Kevin Youkilis with an RBI single in the second, making it 1-0 Boston.

Beckett was dealing until Eduardo Nunez lost one just over the Monster in the fifth. Another very unlikely Yankee went deep as Brett Gardner (3 hits, 2 stolen bases) hit a solo homer off Matt Albers in the seventh.

That measly run figured to stand up as Rafael Soriano got a 1-2-3 seventh for New York and David Robertson likewise got a hold with a scoreless eighth.

Scutaro led off the ninth with a wall ball double that just miss being a homer to right against Rivera. Jacoby Ellsbury got him over to third despite a terrible bunt. Pedroia's sac fly tied it and the Red Sox were on their way.

After Albers and Franklin Morales (9 of his 12 pitches were balls; 2 walks but somehow no runs allowed) shaky relief, Dan Wheeler struck out the side in the seventh, Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless ninth and Daniel Bard (2-5) got a 1-2-3 10th with two strikeouts for the eventual win.

There's only six more regular season games between these teams (3 in Boston Aug. 30-Sept. 1 and 3 in New York Sept. 23-25) but this latest marathon (4 hours, 15 minutes) proved that the Red Sox have the Yankees' number. As I alluded to in the headline, it's the first time since 2004 that Boston has won the season series against New York and who knows how long it's been since they clinched it so early on.

Boston heads out for three games in Minnesota followed by three in Seattle. They return for only two against Tampa Bay then hit the road again for four in Kansas City and four in Texas. Without a doubt, this is the toughest stretch of the season travel-wise for the Red Sox.

Tim Wakefield gets his third crack at 200 wins as he opposes Scott Baker of the Twins tomorrow night at Target Field. It's Boston's only visit to Minnesota this season, the Red Sox won three of four against the Twins on May 6-9 at Fenway.

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Extra, Extra: Red Sox Win!

It only took a week and seven tries but the Boston Red Sox finally won a game yesterday afternoon.

They beat the Yankees 9-6 at Fenway Park at their home opener despite John Lackey's best efforts to sabotage the game.

As is the custom on Opening Day at Fenway, nobody got booed on the Red Sox (1-6) even the players that deserved it like Lackey, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Marco Scutaro, J.D. Drew, etc.

Nope, the day is all about the C-list celebs and Boston's elite rubbing elbows with each other while enjoying Fenway's newest garbage food (sushi).

Lackey (1-0) went five innings, giving up six earned runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Sadly, that pathetic display earned him a win on this strange day.

How bad was Yankees (4-3) starter Phil Hughes? Well in just two innings, he allowed six earned runs on seven hits with two walks. New York's prized young pitcher is clearly hurt or something since he has no velocity right now and he made Lackey look like a quality MLB pitcher (a nearly impossible task).

As expected, it was a slugfest. The Red Sox had 12 hits and the Yankees had eight.

Dustin Pedroia led Boston with three hits and three RBIs, J.D. Drew had two hits and two RBIs while Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz and Saltalamacchia each added two hits.

The Red Sox bullpen stepped up with four scoreless innings. Alfredo Aceves was followed by Bobby Jenks, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon (they all threw scoreless innings). Papelbon was the most impressive in his first save opportunity of the season. He struck out two, didn't allow a hit or walk in an economical 11 pitches.

Brett Gardner led New York with two hits, two runs and two walks while Robinson Cano had two hits and two RBIs.

Cano gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run double.

Pedroia answered with a solo homer just over the Monster in the bottom of the first (second straight year he's homered on Opening Day).

Gardner's RBI double in the second made it 3-1 New York.

The Red Sox offense finally exploded for a big inning, five in the second inning. Marco Scutaro's fielder's choice cut it to 3-2. Pedroia put Boston up 4-3 with a two-run single, Gonzalez and Ortiz followed with RBI singles.

Lackey is nothing if not giving and he gave up a run in the third (Nick Swisher groundout), fourth (Derek Jeter RBI single) and fifth (A-Rod homer) to tie it up. Thanks you Muppet-faced bum.

Two of Boston's biggest liabilities came through with the two biggest hits. Saltalamacchia had an RBI double in the fifth and Drew delivered a two-run single in the seventh.

Clay Buchholz opposes Ivan Nova this afternoon in a matchup that obviously favors the Red Sox. Hopefully they can take advantage and rack up another win.

Sox bullpen coughs up another one

The script was altered from Saturday afternoon but the end result was the same last night at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox let another game get away that they had in their pocket.

New York won 5-4 in 10 innings last night as rookie Brett Gardner (2 hits, run, RBI, stolen base) grounded a single up the middle off Jonathan Papelbon (3-3) which scored Robinson Cano (2 hits, 2 RBIs) with the winning run.

Boston (52-39) was up 3-1 after five innings and 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh but the bullpen once again couldn't hold the lead.

Cano tied it up in the seventh with a two-run triple off Javier Lopez.

Tim Wakefield and Joba Chamberlain had nearly identical lines. Wakefield went 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on four hits, a walk and five strikeouts. Joba went six innings, allowing three runs on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

A-Rod had a solo homer to left in the second off Wakefield and Derek Jeter had an RBI single in the sixth which scored Gardner.

Kevin Youkilis (2 hits) scored on Joba's wild pitch in the fifth and Dustin Pedroia came through with a clutch two-run single which put the Sox up 3-1 at the time.

Kevin Cash extended Boston's lead to 4-2 in the seventh with an RBI double plating Julio Lugo.

Manny Delcarmen got four outs without allowing a hit while Hideki Okajima pitched a scoreless ninth.

Cano singled to start the 10th vs. Papelbon and moved over on a bunt by Melky Cabrera. After striking Wilson Betemit out, Gardner had a great at-bat (spoiling a bunch of two-strike pitches) before shooting one up the middle past Papelbon and a diving Alex Cora (at shortstop).

Kyle Farnsworth pitched a scoreless eighth for New York before Mariano Rivera (3-3) had two scoreless innings.

The Red Sox finished 3-7 on a pretty bad road trip. They didn't play well against an average team in Houston, ran into a red-hot team at the wrong time (Tampa Bay), and won the first two in the Bronx before choking away the last two.

Things don't get easier as the hottest team in baseball (winners of 17 of their last 20), the Minnesota Twins, comes to Fenway for three games starting tonight.