CC Sabathia had everything going for him: six shutout innings, three 1-2-3 innings, five strikeouts. He had allowed only two hits, walked only two batters, and had the crowd behind him after he plunked David Ortiz. Going into the seventh inning, he had retired eight in a row.
And, he had a 2-0 lead after Curtis Granderson's first inning homer. It looked like that was all the offense he would need.
Then, the seventh inning happened. David Ortiz singled through the shift. Nick Swisher badly misplayed Jed Lowrie's line drive triple down the right field line that ended up scoring Ortiz from first, making it 2-1 Yankees. After Carl Crawford grounded out, Mike Cameron doubled to tie the game, 2-2.
Jason Varitek then singled, setting up first and third for Jacoby Ellsbury, who grounded a single into right field for a 3-2 Red Sox lead. After Brett Gardner made a fantastic running catch to save a double off the bat of Marco Scutaro, Adrian Gonzalez squeaked a single up the middle to make the score 4-2 Red Sox.
CC Sabathia's night of dominance was officially over. After Gonzalez singled, Sabathia was lifted in favor of David Robertson, who allowed an RBI single to Kevin Youkilis and a two-RBI double to Ortiz to make the score 7-2 Red Sox. A Jed Lowrie lineout to Gardner would officially stop the bleeding, but a seven run seventh inning had been completed.
In mop up duty, Jeff Marquez pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning, but gave up an RBI double to Adrian Gonzalez in the 9th to give the Red Sox their eighth and final run.
On to the offense.
Josh Beckett was wild, but still very effective. After hitting Derek Jeter to start the game and watching Granderson's 18th homer soar into the second deck in right field, Beckett shut the Yankees down for seven innings.
The Yankees only managed three hits and two walks off of Beckett after the first inning, but were also gifted a few baserunners when Beckett plunked A-Rod and Granderson.
When the Yankees did have chances, they did not come through. As a team, the Yanks went 0-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
The last three innings of this game were as awful as the first eighteen innings of this series. The Yanks are now 1-8 against the Red Sox and are two games back in the AL East.
Things could be a lot worse, even though this feels terrible. The Indians will be in the Bronx tomorrow night for the start of a four game set. All we can do is hope for the Yankees to get back on track.
Play of the Game: Jed Lowrie's triple increased the Red Sox chances of winning by over 22%.
Comment of the Game: nyyrocks29 for helping us remember good times.