Final, Yankees 5-1: David Robertson worked around a one-out single from Yoenis Cespedes to complete a scoreless ninth inning.
The Red Sox’s offense, which had a very productive night in Tuesday’s series opener, was shut down Wednesday by Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda allowed only one run on four hits while striking out eight over seven excellent innings.
The Sox ended up producing six hits. Daniel Nava collected a pair. Brock Holt knocked in Boston’s only run with a line-drive double in the sixth inning.
Brian McCann gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-run homer. It was the start of a big night for McCann, who continues to make life difficult for the Red Sox. He went 4-for-4 with three RBIs.
Anthony Ranaudo, who had been 3-0 in three major league starts, suffered his first loss. He allowed three earned runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings.
The Red Sox will play one more game in the Bronx before returning home Friday for the start of a six-game homestand. Brandon Workman will face Chris Capuano in Thursday’s series finale.
End 8th, Yankees 5-1: Edward Mujica needed only seven pitches to complete a scoreless eighth inning.
Chase Headley led off with a fly ball to center field. It was lined directly over the head of Mookie Betts, but the rookie raced back to make a nice over-the-shoulder catch.
Stephen Drew and Ichiro Suzuki both grounded out.
Mid 8th, Yankees 5-1: Dellin Betances worked an effective — albeit painful — eighth inning.
Betances was struck by a comebacker with one out. Jemile Weeks, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the game, reached and stole second base.
Weeks’ effort was fruitless, though. Betances struck out Brock Holt and Mookie Betts in the scoreless inning.
The book is closed on Hiroki Kuroda. The Yankees starter allowed one earned run on four hits over seven innings. He struck out eight and didn’t walk anyone while throwing 95 pitches (73 strikes).
End 7th, Yankees 5-1: The Yankees posted two runs against Alex Wilson in the seventh inning.
Jacoby Ellsbury tripled with one out in the seventh. Mookie Betts laid out for the line drive in left-center field, but it landed beyond his reach. Ellsbury lost his helmet while hustling into third base.
Derek Jeter walked. Brett Gardner then ripped a base hit into right field that scored Ellsbury from third base.
The Red Sox were unable to turn two on Carlos Beltran’s softly hit grounder to second baseman Jemile Weeks. Beltran beat out the throw at first, setting up runners at the corners with two outs. Mark Teixeira walked to load the bases for Brian McCann, who has flat-out feasted on the Sox this season.
McCann singled into right field to score New York’s fifth run. Beltran was thrown out at home trying to stretch the Yankees’ lead even further.
Mid 7th, Yankees 3-1: Allen Craig is having a rough night at the dish.
Craig has struck out three times after going down hacking in the seventh. Hiroki Kuroda turned to the slider to pick up his eighth strikeout of the contest.
Daniel Nava singled in the seventh. It was Boston’s only hit of the frame.
End 6th, Yankees 3-1: Stephen Drew is finding ways to hurt the Yankees now.
Drew struck out with the bases loaded to end the sixth inning. He’s now hitting .147 (11-for-75) since the Yankees acquired him from the Red Sox at the trade deadline.
Anthony Ranaudo’s night ended in the sixth after the right-hander issued a one-out walk to Carlos Beltran. Craig Breslow entered and struck out Mark Teixeira before surrendering back-to-back singles that loaded the bases for Drew.
Drew went down swinging on a 2-2 fastball from Breslow.
Mid 6th, Yankees 3-1: The Red Sox are on the board.
Jemile Weeks was drilled in the knee by a pitch with one out in the sixth inning. Hiroki Kuroda jumped ahead in the count 0-2 but failed to put away Weeks. He missed with two straight offerings before plunking Weeks, who dropped to the ground like a ton of bricks.
Weeks appeared to be in some serious pain. He stayed in the game, though, and almost immediately was forced to test his knee.
Brock Holt smacked a line drive over Brett Gardner’s head in left field on the second pitch he saw. Weeks raced around from first base with Boston’s first run of the game.
Holt tagged up and took third base on Mookie Betts’ fly ball down the right field line. Ichiro Suzuki ranged over into the corner and made the catch right before touching foul territory.
David Ortiz nearly added to Boston’s total with a drive to deep left field. Gardner raced back to make the catch a few steps before the warning track.
End 5th, Yankees 3-0: Anthony Ranaudo managed to escape the fifth inning with only one run allowed, which is a small victory given the situation.
Brian McCann, who homered back in the second inning, singled into center field.
Xander Bogaerts made a very nice play while ranging up the middle to take a hit away from Chase Headley. It resulted in a forceout, but Headley was able to beat out Brock Holt’s throw to first base. Holt covered second base because of the shift.
Stephen Drew walked and Ichiro Suzuki singled into center field to load the bases with one out for Jacoby Ellsbury.
Ellsbury lifted a fly ball to left field that plated New York’s third run. Headley tagged up and raced home from third base as Yoenis Cespedes tossed back toward the infield.
Ranaudo exited the jam without any additional damage inflicted by retiring Derek Jeter on a line drive to Daniel Nava in right field.
Mid 5th, Yankees 2-0: Daniel Nava’s rebound following a dismal start to the season has been impressive. But there’s no excuse for miscues like the one he committed in the fifth inning.
Nava led off with a single into center field. He then was picked off first base by pitcher Hiroki Kuroda on a play in which he didn’t even bother diving back to the bag. Nava tried to tip-toe his way back, which wasn’t good enough.
Allen Craig and Xander Bogaerts struck out swinging to end the inning following Nava’s lackadaisical play. Kuroda has seven strikeouts through five innings.
The Red Sox only have two hits.
End 4th, Yankees 2-0: Anthony Ranaudo has settled down nicely since Brian McCann’s second-inning home run.
Ranaudo has retired eight in a row since McCann’s blast. He took care of Brett Gardner, Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira in the fourth inning.
Gardner grounded back to the mound. Ranaudo obviously needed to hustle to throw out Gardner, who runs well.
Beltran popped out to Christian Vazquez behind the plate. Teixeira flied out to center field.
Mid 4th, Yankees 2-0: Derek Jeter’s defense always has been overrated. Now, he’s a pretty bad defensive shortstop.
You’d never know it in the fourth inning, though, as Jeter made a nice play ranging into the hole to retire Yoenis Cespedes, who showed on his ninth-inning triple Tuesday that he can fly.
Mookie Betts and David Ortiz also went down in the fourth inning against Hiroki Kuroda.
End 3rd, Yankees 2-0: Anthony Ranaudo settled down in the third inning.
Ranaudo retired Ichiro Suzuki, Jacoby Ellsbury and Derek Jeter in order.
Jeter gave one a ride, but Mookie Betts tracked it down.
Mid 3rd, Yankees 2-0: Hiroki Kuroda started the third inning with another strikeout. The right-hander has five strikeouts through three innings.
Christian Vazquez ensured Kuroda wouldn’t coast to another 1-2-3 inning, though. Vazquez hit a comebacker that deflected off Kuroda and over toward shortstop, resulting in a one-out single.
Jemile Weeks popped out into shallow left field, and Brock Holt grounded to first base to end the inning.
End 2nd, Yankees 2-0: Brian McCann’s first season with the Yankees has been a disappointment. If he could play every game against the Red Sox, however, his numbers might look different.
McCann launched a two-run homer off Anthony Ranaudo in the second inning. He yanked an 0-2 fastball down the right field line after Mark Teixeira produced a one-out single.
McCann now has 17 home runs this season. Five have come against the Red Sox.
McCann is hitting .333 (15-for-45) with 10 RBIs against Boston this season.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Hiroki Kuroda struck out the side in the second inning.
Kuroda has four K’s through the first two innings. He set down Yoenis Cespedes, Daniel Nava and Allen Craig in the second.
Cespedes and Craig both went down swinging. Nava went down looking.
End 1st, 0-0: The first inning ended with a crazy double play.
Derek Jeter and Brett Gardner both reached with one out. Jeter singled into left field, and Gardner dropped down a well-placed bunt for a base hit.
The Yankees then ran into a double play via some awful baserunning. Jeter and Gardner broke for third base and second base, respectively. Catcher Christian Vazquez fired down to second. That’s when things got interesting.
Gardner got in a rundown between first and second. After a brief rundown, Jemile Weeks noticed Jeter straying from third. Weeks turned and chucked it at the perfect time to Brock Holt. Jeter was tagged out.
Gardner broke for second after Weeks threw to third. Holt thus fired back to second to nab Gardner after tagging out Jeter at third.
It was a 2-6-3-4-5-3 double play when all was said and done. Bonkers.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Hiroki Kuroda worked a scoreless first inning.
Brock Holt, who entered the game 1-for-17 over his last four contests, grounded to first base for out No. 1. Holt has cooled down a bit dating back to August.
Kuroda struck out the red-hot Mookie Betts for the second out. Betts chased a nasty splitter that dropped off the table. Dare I say Koji-esque?
David Ortiz ended the inning with a ground ball down the first base line.
7:10 p.m.: Hiroki Kuroda takes the mound at Yankee Stadium. Game 2 of the three-game set is underway.
6:18 p.m.: Dustin Pedroia again will be out of the Red Sox’s starting lineup.
Pedroia, who was removed from Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays following an elbow to the head, has been experiencing concussion-like symptoms. Red Sox manager John Farrell told reporters before Wednesday’s game that Pedroia is improving and could return during Boston’s next homestand, but the second baseman isn’t ready just yet.
Jemile Weeks will play second base Wednesday in Pedroia’s absence. Brock Holt will play third base, and Will Middlebrooks will sit. Middlebrooks went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts and an error in Tuesday’s win.
Wednesday’s complete lineups are below.
Boston Red Sox (61-77)
Brock Holt, 3B
Mookie Betts, CF
David Ortiz, DH
Yoenis Cespedes, LF
Daniel Nava, RF
Allen Craig, 1B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Christian Vazquez, C
Jemile Weeks, 2B
Anthony Ranaudo, RHP (3-0, 4.50 ERA)
New York Yankees (70-66)
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Derek Jeter, SS
Brett Gardner, LF
Carlos Beltran, DH
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Brian McCann, C
Chase Headley, 3B
Stephen Drew, 2B
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Hiroki Kuroda, RHP (9-8, 3.88 ERA)
5:35 p.m. ET: Wednesday’s start will be a surreal experience for Boston Red Sox pitcher Anthony Ranaudo.
Ranaudo, a New Jersey native, will face the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The 24-year-old’s major league debut was against the Yankees back on Aug. 1, but the idea of toeing the rubber in the Bronx against his favorite team growing up understandably has Ranaudo fired up.
“It’s going to be fun. I can’t even describe how excited I’m going to be,” Ranaudo told reporters before Tuesday’s game. “It’ll to be pretty interesting tonight when I put my head on that pillow and see if I can fall asleep. There’s going to be a lot of emotions. I’m going to try and take it like it’s another game and do the things that have made me successful this year.”
Ranaudo will be making his fourth major league start. The right-hander has gone six innings while allowing four earned runs or fewer in each of his first three starts. It’s been a continuation of what Ranaudo accomplished at Triple-A Pawtucket, where he was named the International League’s Most Valuable Pitcher following a season in which he went 14-4 with a 2.61 ERA in 24 starts.
Ranaudo will face Hiroki Kuroda in the middle game of the teams’ three-game series. The Red Sox took Tuesday’s series opener behind a strong offensive effort in which Xander Bogaerts produced four hits and Mookie Betts and Yoenis Cespedes each collected three knocks.
Wednesday’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Tune in on NESN and keep it right here with NESN.com’s live blog.
