Jonathan Papelbon took his medicine, giving up a solo homer and another run in 1 1/3 innings. He said postgame that he felt really good and that if he throws the way he did tonight he'll be fine this season.
Terry Francona echoed those thoughts, saying that he would not have sent Papelbon out for a second inning of work if he had not looked so strong in the first.
But the results were not there, wasting a strong debut for John Lackey.
Boston, which is 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position the last two games, throws Tim Wakefield against Kyle Davies on Friday in Kauffman Stadium. First pitch is 8:10 p.m.
Final, Yankees 3-1: The Yankees go scoreless against John Lackey but have success late for the second straight night and move on to Tampa Bay with a series win.
It seems like a long time ago that the Sox won that opener. They will have a day to travel to Kansas City before opening a three-game series against the Royals on Friday.
We're off to hear from the club. Back in a bit to wrap it up.
Mid 10th, Yankees 3-1: A home run, three walks and an RBI groundout result in a two-run inning for the Yanks. It's Mariano Rivera time.
Both runs go to Papelbon. Again, he chucked in a ton of fastballs and they either missed or, in Granderson's case, were hit a long way.
10:16 p.m. Jonathan Papelbon grooved a fastball out over the plate that Curtis Granderson jumped all over for his second homer of the series and the Yanks have their first lead of the game.
There's been so much talk of Papelbon throwing fewer fastballs this season after relying on the pitch too often last year, but he threw plenty in his one-plus inning of work and that one caught too much of the plate.
Consecutive walks to Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter ended Papelbon's outing. Scott Atchison is in.
End 9th, 1-1: The Red Sox newcomers are vying for the fan's affection. Both Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron put a charge into the crowd with long flies to right and left, respectively.
Nothing but loud outs, though, and the third newcomer, Marco Scutaro, lines to left to end it. On to extras for the first time this season.
Jonathan Papelbon will throw his second inning, or at least start it. Chan Ho Park, who gave up the tying home run to Dustin Pedroia on Sunday, tossed three scoreless innings for New York.
Mid 9th, 1-1: Seven straight Yankees have been set down since Nick Swisher's game-tying single in the seventh.
The Yankees are sticking with Chan Ho Park for a third inning of work. He has thrown just 20 pitches in his first two frames.
End 8th, 1-1: Chan Ho Park mows through the heart of the Red Sox order, and did we just hear some boos when David Ortiz struck out on three pitches to end it? I believe we did.
Jonathan Papelbon is the fourth Boston pitcher of the night.
Mid 8th, 1-1: Nick Johnson and Mark Teixeira, the Yankees' No. 2 and No. 3 hitters, are a combined 0-for-20 this year.
Daniel Bard freezes Johnson and then gets Teixeira on a fly to right to push this one into the bottom of the eighth still tied.
Chan Ho Park is back on the hill for New York.
End 7th, 1-1: Chan Ho Park has a 1-2-3 inning. The Sox have just two singles to show for the last four innings. One of them was erased on a double play.
Daniel Bard is still out there for Boston.
Mid 7th, 1-1: Nick Swisher ties it with an RBI single off Daniel Bard. The Sox had a play at the plate on Jorge Posada but catcher Victor Martinez could not handle what was a pretty good throw from right fielder J.D. Drew.
The move that could be questioned — and I'm sure someone out there will — was letting Schoeneweis stay in to face Posada, who is a better hitter from the right side.
Obviously the Sox wanted to get the lefty to Curtis Granderson, the third batter in the inning, and Schoeneweis did strike out the two lefties he faced, but the double by Posada leads to the tying run.
Andy Pettitte is replaced by Chan Ho Park.
9:16 p.m.: Scott Schoeneweis faces three batters and leaves with two outs and a runner on second. Daniel Bard is on for the third time in as many games.
End 6th, Red Sox 1-0: After Andy Pettitte gets around a leadoff single to take this pitcher's duel into the seventh, the Sox turn to Scott Schoeneweis out of the bullpen. He will face Robinson Cano and that might be it.
John Lackey goes six scoreless in his Boston debut. He threw 58 of his 100 pitches for strikes. His line:
6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HB
Mid 6th, Red Sox 1-0: Derek Jeter gets plunked by a John Lackey offering and the crowd wants to consider it payback for Kevin Youkilis an inning earlier. But the count was 2-2 and the last thing Lackey wants to do is put the leadoff man on to start the sixth in a one-run game.
There is an interesting sidebar. It appeared as if Youkilis yelled something at Jeter after he was hit by a pitch in the fifth, joking that the Yankees shortstop was gonna get his. When Jeter got to first in the sixth he gave Youkilis a little shove.
All water under the bridge.
Oh, John Lackey also worked out of a two-on, one-out jam by getting Alex Rodriguez to hit into a 5-4-3 double play. Huge play in this game.
End 5th, Red Sox 1-0: David Ortiz gets another shot with two on and two out after Kevin Youkilis is hit by a pitch in the helmet (he was fine, but visions of Joba Chamberlain popped up in all of our heads). This time Andy Pettitte gets the Red Sox designated hitter on a 3-2 slider.
Ortiz has knocked in one and stranded four.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 1-0: John Lackey works around a one-out single and a stolen base to keep alive his scoreless outing. Lackey has thrown 81 pitches.
End 4th, Red Sox 1-0: It seems hard to believe, but Andy Pettitte has actually thrown fewer pitches than John Lackey, despite walking two more batters and allowing two more hits.
He has his first 1-2-3 inning, minutes after I questioned whether he was ready for the regular season. Shows what I know.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 1-0: Robinson Cano, the Red Sox killer, is naturally the first to get a hard hit off Lackey as he rockets one into center with two outs.
Cano now has a 14-game hitting streak against Boston. He is 23-for-57 (.403) in that span.
The Yankees second baseman has never been much of a speed demon, though. He gets gunned down by Victor Martinez trying to steal third to end the fourth.
End 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: David Ortiz essentially told us all to take it easy in forecasting his demise. But not until he actually got a hit, especially one in a big moment, would the scavengers go away. He does in the third, driving in Dustin Pedroia with his first hit of the season.
The Sox have four hits and three walks in three innings against Pettitte, whose spring training was marred by rain on almost every day he pitched. He may not be regular season ready quite yet.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: The first hit against John Lackey as a member of the Red Sox is a dribbler down the line to third that Adrian Beltre can't get to in time. Derek Jeter reached without a throw.
Other than that, another smooth inning for Lackey. He has thrown 51 pitches, however. Even when you're mowing down the Yankees you have to work at it.
End 2nd, 0-0: Mike Cameron has had his issues over the years against Andy Pettitte, going 12-for-54 (.222) with just one homer. But the Red Sox center fielder cracks a ground-rule double to right with two outs in the second.
A walk to Marco Scutaro followed (the third walk already issued by Pettitte) but Jacoby Ellsbury popped to left.
Boston was 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position Tuesday night. They are 0-for-3 thus far in this one.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: That's four outs recorded on the ground and two in the air through the first two innings for John Lackey, about what we should expect from him going forward.
Works quick. Throws strikes. Keeps the ball low. Rather refreshing after the way the first two games went.
End 1st, 0-0: The raging debate over who would win in a race between Jacoby Ellsbury and Andy Pettitte was finally settled in the bottom of the first inning. In a less-than-stunning result, Ellsbury beats Pettitte to the first base bag, knocks the lefty's glove off his right hand and sends the Yankees trainer to the mound just two pitches into the inning.
A walk to Dustin Pedroia followed and it looked like it could be a long inning for Pettitte.
After a double play and another walk put runners on the corners with two outs, we got to see David Ortiz step up in a clutch situation. So much has been made of him even getting this start, but he has hit Pettitte well for years. Ortiz falls to 0-for-8 on the season, however, with a grounder to second. Inning over. Debate still very much alive.
Mid 1st, 0-0: John Lackey issues his first walk in a Red Sox uniform, losing Mark Teixeira on a 3-2 pitch. But he gets Alex Rodriguez on a liner to center to get out of it.
Rodriguez is now 9-for-52 (.173) in his career against Lackey, but four of the hits are homers, one is a triple and one is a double. He won't hurt Lackey often, but when he does he does.
6:57 p.m.: We saw John Lackey in the clubhouse a few hours ago looking rather relaxed as he prepared for his Red Sox debut. He is tossing in the bullpen now amid absolutely perfect conditions for a game. He just received a very nice ovation when his name was announced with the starting lineups.
6:02 p.m.: First things first. Clay Buchholz threw 48 pitches in a simulated game earlier and said he's set for his debut Sunday in Kansas City.
Buchholz threw to Jeremy Hermida, Bill Hall and Jason Varitek (there were some who jokingly wondered if Mike Lowell couldn't even get a plate appearance in a simulated game).
He talked about the simulation going better than he had expected since he hadn't faced live hitting in a bit.
Other pitchers are on the mend. Boof Bonser will throw 80-85 pitches Thursday for Pawtucket and Daisuke Matsuzaka is slated to get the same amount of work in Saturday. Matsuzaka will stay behind and do his side work when the team travels to Minnesota.
Alan Embree is also expected to go in relief of Bonser and again a couple of days after that.
We took a look at the David Ortiz situation in this piece, but just to expand on things, Terry Francona has talked for days about making sure his regulars get going and stay sharp amid the off-and-on schedule of the first two weeks. To see Ortiz in there against Andy Pettitte is not a surprise. If he was benched tonight in favor of Mike Lowell, Ortiz would remain hitless until Friday, the next time the Sox play. You have to get him started at some point and if he does it against a lefty, even better.
Kansas City does not offer a left-handed starter, but Francona said that the series in Kauffman Stadium will see the bench players used. Jason Varitek is guaranteed at least one start and it's likely that Lowell will make his debut, if he doesn't get in Wednesday.
Back in a little while to look a little more at tonight's matchups.
5:20 p.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where we've been watching Clay Buchholz throw a simulated game, discussing the David Ortiz matter with Terry Francona and getting set for the finale of this three-game set.
I'll have some more information on those matters in a bit. For now, here is the Yankees lineup against John Lackey:
Derek Jeter, SS
Nick Johnson, DH
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Jorge Posada, C
Curtis Granderson, CF
Nick Swisher, RF
Brett Gardner, LF
2:20 p.m.: The lineups were announced a short time ago, and David Ortiz will be batting fifth behind Kevin Youkilis, despite the lefty Pettitte on the mound.
Here's how it looks:
Ellsbury LF
Pedroia 2B
Martinez C
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Beltre 3B
Drew RF
Cameron CF
Scutaro SS
12:27 p.m.: Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said moments ago on WEEI that he will use same lineup against Andy Pettitte that he did in the first two games of the series with the Yankees.
There has been extremely early speculation that designated hitter David Ortiz might sit against left handers in favor of Mike Lowell. Ortiz is 0-for-7 while Lowell has yet to see action in 2010.
But with the second off-day of the season already scheduled for Thursday and another on Tuesday, Francona insists he wants his regulars stay sharp. In Ortiz's case he simply wants him to get started.
"It'd be nice to get him going," Francona said after Tuesday night's 6-4 loss in which Ortiz was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
7:30 a.m.: John Lackey makes his Red Sox debut when he toes the slab opposite Andy Pettitte and the New York Yankees.
It is the finale of a three-game set and NESN is your source for all the action.
Lackey was signed to a five-year, $82.5 million deal this offseason to essentially fill in behind Josh Beckett and Jon Lester in a power trio. He will be called upon Wednesday to do what those two could not: last more than five innings.
Veteran southpaw Andy Pettitte will make his 16th career Fenway Park start.
