Yankees Miss Opportunites To Come Back On Sox

RED SOX 6

YANKEES 4

Whether it was the inclement weather, or if it just wasn't meant to be, the Yankees failed to take advantage of any opportunity tonight to come back and beat the hated Boston Red Sox. The Yankees stranded 21 runners on the night, 10 of which were runners in scoring position!

Early on the Yankees couldn't touch Jon Lester, who was fantastic all night long. Lester struck out 10 Yankees and had only one bad inning in his seven innings of work. The 10 strike outs were a career high for one of baseball's most gifted left handed pitchers.

It was not such a great night for Phil Hughes. Hughes didn't get lit up, but the Red Sox scratched and clawed enough to knock Hughes out of the game after four innings. In the first inning, a wild pitch by Hughes allowed Dustin Pedroia to come in to score, making it 1-0 Sox. In the second and third innings, Mike Lowell made Hughes pay dearly with a solo home run and an RBI single to make it 3-0 Sox. The final straw came in the fourth when a struggling David Ortiz laced a double down the right field line to score Jacoby Ellsbury, 4-0 Sox.

The Yankees did try to make it interesting. After Joe Giradi was ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes on Derek Jeter's at bat, Johnny Damon and Mark Texieria went back to back off Lester to cut the Red Sox lead to 4-3. But, Lester settled down, struck out Nick Swisher to end the sixth and went through the Yankee order 1,2, 3 in the seventh.

The Red Sox added insurance to Lester's lead, as Jason Bay blasted a two run shot that smacked the left field foul pole, 6-3 Boston. Then the Yankees tried and failed miserably to come back. In the bottom of the eighth, after Texieria's second homer of the night, and a walk to Robinson Cano, Red Sox manager Terry Francona brought in his closer, Jonathan Papelbon, for a five out save, one of the more difficult feats for a closer. Papelbon worked around a Melky Cabrera single to get out of the jam.

Finally in the ninth, Papelbon got wild. He gave up a single to Brett Gardner, hit Derek Jeter and walked Nick Swisher. With two out, Cano came to the plate with a chance to tie or win it, but Cano struck out swinging, ending a long night in the Bronx that had already seen a two and a half hour rain delay. Box Score.

The loss is a huge blow to the Yankees, who are now 0-4 against the Red Sox this season and are now one game over .500 on the season at 13-12.