The Yankees move their record to 52-33, while the Red Sox continue to hover around the .500 mark, now even at 43-43. Ivan Nova (10-3) gets the win, while Jon Lester (5-6) takes the loss.
The Red Sox will be back in action Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, but in the meantime you can check NESN.com tomorrow for our Home Run Derby Live Blog, which is set to get going at 8 p.m. ET.
Mid 9th, 7-3 Yankees: The Red Sox are down to their final chance, as Alfredo Aceves does well to hold the Yankees down after Cano crushed that double off the Monster.
It doesn't feel like a must-win game for the Sox (that would have been Saturday's nightcap) but this one is going to hurt going in to the break. Suffice to say, a series split would have been a huge moral victory for a Boston team that has to feel undermanned playing a powerful Yankees squad.
Now, on to the bottom of the ninth!
End 8th, 7-3 Yankees: The Sox came oh-so-close to making it a two-run ballgame on Aviles' double, which just missed the Monster seats. In the end, however, Boston manages just a single run and is still down by four.
It's actually kind of fascinating how similar the bullpen stories have been in 2012 for the Yankees and Red Sox. Not to compare Andrew Bailey to all-time great Mariano Rivera, but both teams lost their closers, and yet the collective bullpen units have not missed a step, with new guys stepping into the roles they were asked. Granted, Rafael Soriano — a former closer — is probably more comfortable in the ninth than the former starter Aceves, but adjusting roles in the bullpen is never easy.
Mid 8th, 7-2 Yankees: The game has changed in a subtle way, where we see more grinding and physical effort throughout nine innings. Nowadays, with increased offense and specialty relievers, teams don't shut down their runners late in games — even up by five runs. Granderson obviously didn't end up trying to swipe a bag, but he was more intense and ready on the bases than a player may have been in the late innings in a different era.
End 7th, 7-2 Yankees: Even up by five runs, it says a lot about how much Yankees manager Joe Girardi respects David Ortiz and the Red Sox' bats in general that he brought in Clay Rapada to pitch to the designated hitter there.
It was also a chance to break up the flow of the game, with the Sox looking ready to mount something. But the Yankees bullpen certainly did its job, with Rapada making Ortiz look uncomfortable in the box. David Robertson got out of the inning easily by retiring Saltalamacchia on one pitch.
Mid 7th, 7-2 Yankees: Andruw Jones went way up and out of the zone to get that pitch — which he absolutely crushed.
In his later career, Jones has sort of become a right-handed version of Adam Dunn, a real "three true outcomes" player. That means that the three likely outcomes for any Jones at-bat are a strikeout, a walk or a home run. His home run rate is truly impressive, with 11 longballs in just 126 at-bats. And despite his .246 batting average, he actually holds a respectable .329 on-base percentage.
Jones may not be the player he was in his youth — particularly on defense — but he's still a valuable bat in part-time action.
End 6th, 5-2 Yankees: One would think that after 111 pitches Nova would be out of the game, but we'll see.
If he is gone, though, it would only be a positive for the Red Sox, as aside from Ortiz' double in the third, it feels like Boston hasn't hit anything hard against Nova all night. And with 10 strikeouts through six, he's certainly looked dominant, with Sox hitters flailing at his big 12-6 curveball.
Mid 6th, 5-2 Yankees: On the first double play opportunity, you're not likely to get Granderson having to throw the ball 90 feet twice. But Ciriaco was definitely slow to make the turn on Teixeira's ground ball — and the first baseman is not exactly fleet of foot.
It didn't come back to hurt the Sox in that inning, but generally speaking, the Yankees are not a team you can afford to give extra outs to.
End 5th, 5-2 Yankees: After throwing 72 pitches through the first three innings, Nova has settled down. He's now at 97 through five, meaning he probably has another inning left in him. Then again, elevated pitch counts are to be expected when you strike out eight (and issue a couple free passes) through five.
Mid 5th, 5-2 Yankees: Scary moment there for Ryan Sweeney, particularly with all the information that's come out about concussions in sports over the last few years.
In fact, the magnum opus on the subject was last year's John Branch three-part piece for the New York Times on former NHL enforcer Derek Boogaard. Absolutely worth a read, it's one of the best pieces of journalism you'll ever pick up.
However, it was encouraging to see Sweeney make that catch on Stewart. Conversely, it wasn't encouraging to see Lester fail to keep his mojo from the fourth intact.
Mid 4th, 3-2 Yankees: Now, that was the Jon Lester the Red Sox have been waiting to see all season. We're not sure if that last pitch to Granderson was a cut fastball or a tight curveball, but either way, it was filthy — no left-handed batter in Major League Baseball is going to be able to hit that.
It also gets the defense off the field quickly and the offense a chance to get into a rhythm.
End 3rd, 3-2 Yankees: We're not exactly sure what Nick Punto was thinking. Unless you are trying to avoid a tag, it's pretty much proven that sliding into first base does not help you beat a throw. So that may have been unnecessary.
Aside from that, Ortiz did what he does best — going off the Monster. Credit the Sox for driving up Nova's pitch count early. The right-hander had looked on top of his game through the first two frames, so anything the team can do to get him out of the game early, and into the bullpen, would be a positive.
Mid 3rd, 3-1 Yankees: More bad news for the Red Sox, as Adrian Gonzalez is already out of the game. According to NESN.com's Didier Morais, it's only because of a bad cold — and not anything more serious — but it hurts the Red Sox in this game, at least offensively.
As I said earlier, Adrian Gonzalez was battling a pretty bad cold 2day & wasn't feeling well. That's probably why he just got pulled.
— Didier Morais (@DidierMorais) July 9, 2012
Defensively, the team may have actually improved, as Gomez doesn't have to play third for the rest of the contest. That's a boon, given that before coming up to the Sox, he hadn't played third base since 2009.
End 2nd, 3-1 Yankees: Nova strikes out the side, looking pretty dominant on the evening with five strikeouts already. Down by two, this may be a very tough night for the Red Sox to get back in the game.
And it's interesting that the ESPN crew took some time to discuss Carl Crawford. He's had a difficult time with the injuries, and it's not going to get any easier. We have some news on Crawford's troublesom throwing elbow coming here on NESN.com.
Mid 2nd, 3-1 Yankees: The Red Sox keep counting on Lester to turn his season around and step up into the role of staff ace, and they are continually left wanting.
After that first inning, it would have been encouraging to see Lester take the Felix Doubront route and keep the Yankees down in the second, but the Sox are back down by two runs. Perhaps the All-Star break will give Lester a chance to regroup and re-establish himself.
End 1st, 2-1 Yankees: Say what you want about Jeter — and yes, he's been insanely overrated at shortstop for years now — but that's a play he makes 999 times out of 1,000.
It's a fortunate break for the Red Sox, but it shouldn't overshadow the fact that that's a situation where you'd really like to see Gonzalez or Ross come through for the offense. Also of note is that if it's anyone but David Ortiz running the bases from second on that dropped pop-up, the game is likely tied.
Mid 1st, 2-0 Yankees: We're not sure whether Lester should be disappointed to let the Yankees take another first-inning lead, or if it's an improvement that he held them to two runs. It's right in line with a trend in this series, as Sox pitchers gave up five, four and three runs in games 1 through 3, respectively.
Either way, the Red Sox are in a hole once again before their hitters even come to the plate. But credit Lester for limiting the damage by getting Rodriguez, Swisher and Jones. And really, he should have been out of the inning after Swisher's ground ball.
8:07 p.m. ET: We have first pitch! For those wondering, the gametime temperature at Fenway is 85 degrees.
7:30 p.m. ET: And we have today's lineups. Looks like Pedro Ciriaco earned himself a bump after yesterday's 4-for-5 performance, earning the No. 2 slot in the Red Sox lineup.
On the other side of things, it's business as usual for the Yankees, who will see Alex Rodriguez back in his familiar cleanup role after sitting out Saturday's nightcap.
Yankees
Derek Jeter, SS
Curtis Granderson, CF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nick Swisher, RF
Andruw Jones, LF
Jayson Nix, 2B
Chris Stewart, C
Ivan Nova, P
Red Sox
Daniel Nava, LF
Pedro Ciriaco, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Cody Ross, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Ryan Sweeney, CF
Mauro Gomez, 3B
Mike Aviles, SS
Jon Lester, P
8 a.m. ET: Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader felt like a huge win.
Granted, it only moves the Red Sox one game above .500 at 43-42, but after the way the team lost the first two games of its four-game series with the rival New York Yankees, the Sox were basically desperate to come away with a victory. And behind the sometimes-dominant pitching of Felix Doubront and the unexpected contributions of career minor leaguers Pedro Ciriaco and Mauro Gomez, the Red Sox did just that, breathing a huge sigh of relief in the process.
However, after giving up five, four and three runs in the first innings of the first three games of the series, respectively, the Sox are certainly hoping they can hold the Yankees down in Sunday's first frame and not put the offense in a hole before it even gets a chance to come to bat. Granted, the offense seems to be coming around again, but the starting pitching needs to hold up its end as well.
On that note, the Red Sox send Jon Lester (5-5, 4.33 ERA) to the mound Sunday evening to oppose Ivan Nova (9-3, 4.05) in the final game before the All-Star break. The Red Sox, waiting for someone to step up as the ace of their staff all year, will be looking for a little more from Lester in the hopes of going into the Midsummer Classic on a positive — and winning — note.
The action starts at 8:05 p.m. Check back here for details and analysis.
