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Joe West and the Boston Red Sox escaped the Bronx with a series opening victory after a bullpen collapse from the Yankees. The loss dropped New York to nine games behind in the division race and three games back of the wild card (Rays-Angels in-play now).
Joba Chamberlain, the sixth Yankee reliever of the night, came in for the 10th inning because Binder. Chamberlain did get the lead-off hitter, Will Middlebrooks, to fly out to fight. Jacoby Ellsbury then singled to right and stole second base. This is where Joe West decided that the game was taking too long. On a two strike pitch, Shane Victorino appeared to swing at a pitch out of the zone.
Quit your job, Joe West. Quit your job. pic.twitter.com/G2GlPbucAT
— The Pinstriped Bible (@pinstripebible) September 6, 2013
Looks like he held up to me. So Victorino of course gets another chance and capitalizes with an RBI single to shallow right field. Ichiro got the ball to the plate in time but Austin Romine could not get a handle on the ball, allowing the Red Sox to take the 9-8 lead.
The Yankees had their opportunity to win after a six-run seventh inning gave them an 8-7 lead. Joe Girardi handed the ball off to David Robertson for the eighth and got a 1-2-3 inning that included two strikeouts. After the Yankees offense failed to get anymore insurance runs, Mariano Rivera came in to face the 4-5-6 hitters of the Red Sox lineup. After getting two putouts by Lyle Overbay, Mike Napoli took a two strike pitch to the gap in right-center field. Pinch runner Quintin Berry then stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by Austin Romine. Berry scored on a bloop-single by Stephen Drew to tie the game and hand Rivera his sixth blown save of the year.
The Yankees had the heart of the order leading of the bottom of the ninth. After a Robinson Cano lineout, Alfonso Soriano took a four-pitch walk and despite getting picked off, took second on an error by first baseman Daniel Nava. With Curtis Granderson up, Soriano got himself picked off again for the second out of the inning and Granderson struck out on the next pitch.
Ivan Nova took the start for New York but was chased after throwing 96 pitches over four innings, his shortest outing since a relief appearance in late May. Of those pitches, 47 of them came in the third inning where he surrendered two runs on three hits and two walks. It was the most pitches a Yankee pitcher has thrown in one inning since Orlando Hernandez 49-pitch inning in 2000.
READ THIS TO REMEMBER THE GOOD TIMES: Ichiro lead off the seventh inning with an eight-pitch walk, followed by a Vernon Wells pinch-hit single. Lefty Matt Thornton replaced Jake Peavy to face Brett Gardner, who took an 0-2 pitch to center field to drive in the first run of the inning. With Derek Jeter batting, Wells decided to take it upon himself to steal third... successfully. After a walk to Jeter, Robinson Cano got another run in with a fielder's choice groundout, where he ran out an easy double-play ball (Pay the man). Alfonso Soriano came up with another big RBI, singling in Gardner. Granderson followed it up with an RBI double, putting runners on second and third with one out, trailing 7-6. Overbay came to the plate after an Alex Rodriguez strikeout delivered a two-run single on a two-strike, two-out fastball giving the Bombers an 8-7 lead.