Yankees Beat Up on Beckett, Red Sox to Take Series

A pitching duel it was not, but CC Sabathia was a touch better than his counterpart, Josh Beckett, on Sunday night at Fenway Park as the Yankees beat the Red Sox 8-4. Sabathia earned his major league-best 15th win of the season with his 6 2/3 innings of work in which he gave up three earned runs and struck out eight.

Yankees 8, Red Sox 4
Aug. 23, 2009
Fenway Park, Boston, Mass.

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Headliner: Hideki Matsui enjoyed his weekend trip to Boston. He crushed the Red Sox with two homers and seven RBIs on Friday night, took a brief 0-for-5 break on Saturday and, on Sunday, picked up right where he left off.

Matsui homered deep to right field to lead off the second inning to stretch the Yankees' lead to 2-0 then homered again in the eighth inning to give the Yankees some insurance. He finished the series with four home runs — he has 23 on the season — and nine RBIs.

Dirt Dog: Rocco Baldelli, out of the starting lineup since Aug. 5, looked comfortable filling in for J.D. Drew. Baldelli drove in a run with a single in the second and later scored on a Jason Varitek double to right field. The right fielder then plated another run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. The only out he made was a sharp liner that was caught by Nick Swisher in right.

Better Luck Next Time: Josh Beckett deserves credit for gutting out an eight-inning performance, but the Sox ace got into too much trouble early for his team to have a good chance to win. Beckett gave up eight runs in eight innings, including a career-high five home runs. He struck out five batters and didn't walk anybody, but for the second straight start he pitched just well enough to lose. Unlike last week in Toronto, however, the bats couldn't bail him out.

Key Moment: Trailing by two runs in the bottom of the third, the Red Sox had something going after back-to-back singles from Dustin Pedroia and Victor Martinez. In stepped Saturday's hero, Kevin Youkilis, who was looking to avenge a questionable third strike called on him in the second inning.

Youkilis made contact this time, but he hit into a textbook 6-4-3 double play, saving Sabathia from extra work after he had already thrown 25 pitches that inning. Replays would later show that Cano came off the base before catching Derek Jeter's feed, but that call is rarely made.

On Deck: The Yankees leave Fenway Park for the final time of the regular season while the Red Sox prepare to host the Chicago White Sox for a three-game set at the Fens. On Monday, Clay Buchholz (2-3, 3.99 ERA) will be on the hill, opposed by Jose Contreras (5-11, 5.13 ERA).