Yankees Fight Back In 9-8 Loss

In one of the hardest fought games of the season, a big inning by the New York Yankees was not enough as the Red Sox took game one of the series 9-8 . The Yankees scratched back from a 7-2 deficit in the extra innings battle. 

The Red Sox got the early lead with two runs in the top of the third. A  Jacoby Ellsbury double brought home the first run. Then Will Middlebrooks scored on a ground out by Shane Victorino.

The Yankees wasted no time in making that lead disappear. In the bottom of the third, Ichiro Suzuki singled and then stole second. Brett Gardner’s infield single moved Suzuki to third. Jeter battled Jake Peavy for a walk to load the bases. That brought up Robinson Cano, who doubled to tie the score.

In the top of the fourth, Will Middlebrroks homered to put Boston on top again 3-2. The Yankees threatened to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth. But after a double steal, Alex Rodriguez and Lyle Overbay were left stranded on second and third.

Unfortunately, this did not turn out to be Ivan Nova’s night. After a homer by Victorino in the fifth, Joe Girardi decided it was time to make a change. Preston Claiborne, Cesar Cabral and Adam Warren combined to end the Red Sox threat, but not until two more runs crossed the plate and the score stood at 6-2. They added another in the seventh on a Ryan Lavarnway single.

But then the Yankees mounted a rally. In one of the  best innings of the season, they fought their way back. After Ichiro reached on a walk, Vernon Wells came in to pinch hit for Chris Stewart. Wells singled, and the Yankees had runners on first and third. Brett Gardner followed with another single to cut the Boston lead it 7-3.  Jeter then walked to load the bases.

After a Cano ground out, Wells scored, and the Yankees crept closer to 7-4. With runners on the corners, Soriano singled and the Yankees were back in the game with the tying runs on base.  Curtis Granderson doubled to make it 7-6 and Lyle Overbay singled to give the Yankees the lead.

But in the ninth, Boston was able to push in a run against Mariano Rivera to tie it up. They added another in the tenth off of Joba Chamberlain to take the first game of the series.