Almost all the good feeling from yesterday's win has been erased. A combination of bad fielding, crappy umpiring, not much hitting, and Hiroki Kuroda's worst start in a while came together as the Red Sox beat the Yankees 6-1 on Saturday.
After the two teams traded scoreless innings, in some of which, they stranded runners, the Red Sox got on the board in the fourth inning. David Ortiz led off the inning with a ground-rule double and moved to third when Mike Carp singled. Kuroda then struck out Daniel Nava for the first out of the inning. Stephen Drew came up next. He grounded to Lyle Overbay at first. Instead of taking the easy out of Ortiz at home, Overbay tried to start a double play to get out of the inning. His throw to Nunez was high and the shortstop couldn't get the force at second. Nunez's return throw to first was late. Everyone was safe, Ortiz scored, and the Red Sox took the lead.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia came up next. He struck out, but during his at bat, Carp stole third. Replays show Alex Rodriguez made the tag at third in time and Carp should've been out, but the umpire called him safe. (It should also be noted that the umpires missed a call in the top of the fourth as well. Alfonso Soriano was caught stealing when he appeared to be safe. Curtis Granderson singled a couple batters later and that would've scored Soriano.) That call immediately came back to haunt the Yankees when Will Middlebrooks hit an infield single. That scored Carp and made it 2-0. Jacoby Ellsbury added another run with a single of his own. The inning ended when Shane Victorino grounded out, but it was now 3-0. (Even though it should've been 1-0 or even 1-1.)
The Yankees would cut into the lead in the top of the fifth. Overbay made up for his earlier mistake somewhat with a single. Chris Stewart then hit a ball down the left field line which bounced into the seats for a ground-rule double. After Brett Gardner grounded out, Ichiro Suzuki came up. Ichiro grounded out as well, but his was deep enough to score Overbay, making it 3-1.
However, a few innings later, the Red Sox tacked on a few more runs. Nava led off the sixth inning with a double. After Drew grounded out, Saltalamacchia dropped a single into left. That scored Nava and made it 4-1. After Middlebrooks struck out, Ellsbury was due back up. Ellsbury doubled to the wall in right. Ichiro got the ball into Cano, who threw home as was Saltalamacchia trying to score. Cano's throw was wide and got past Stewart, allowing Saltalongname to score and Ellsbury to move to third.
That was the end of Kuroda's day. It was a crappy start for Hirok, especially compared to the rest of his season. But he's not totally at fault for the outing. Some crappy umpiring and some crappy defense cost him some runs and kept him in innings that he should've been out of. That being said, it was still a disappointing start for him. Kuroda went 5.2 innings, allowing three earned runs (five total) on 11 hits.
Adam Warren came in and got Victorino to fly out to end the inning, but the Boston lead was now 5-1. And another Boston run was added in the seventh when Ortiz hit a solo home run.
The Red Sox continued to threaten in later innings, but didn't push across another run. The Yankees continued to do pretty much anything but threaten after their one run. Red Sox's starter John Lackey shut down the Yankees for 6.2 innings, while the bullpen got through the other 2.1. Koji Uehara finished off the game with a scoreless ninth to give the Red Sox a 6-1 win.
The rubber game between the Yankees and Red Sox is tomorrow at 8:05 eastern. CC Sabathia will start for the Yankees, while Ryan Dempster goes for the Red Sox.