Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Jonathan Papelbon locked down this one, striking out Randy Winn to cap Boston's five-run comeback in the late innings, as the Red Sox earned a split of a brief two-game set with a 7-6 victory over the Yankees.
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Papelbon, who gave up Alex Rodriguez's game-tying two-run home run and Marcus Thames game-winning shot a night earlier, again leaked oil in the ninth, giving up a run and putting the tying run on base with Thames again at the plate.
This time the result was a one-out walk, placing runners on the corners with one out. The hard-throwing right-hander bared down, induced a Juan Miranda groundout and struck out Winn to finish off the comeback.
Daniel Bard (1-1) got the final out of the eighth to earn the win and Papelbon picked up his 10th save. The comeback got Josh Beckett off the hook. The right-hander gave up five runs -- three earned -- on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks over 4 2/3 frames before leaving with a back injury.
The Yankees did not seem to agree.
Manny Delcarmen entered the contest and was given all the time he needed to warm up due to Beckett's injury. The Yankees argued, believing there was no indication of an injury to Beckett, and filed a protest with crew chief Larry Vanover. The Yankees now have 24 hours to file a formal protest with the commissioner's office.
The topic seemed moot at the time with the Yankees holding a 5-0 lead and CC Sabathia cruising along.
It all changed quickly. Kevin Youkilis' seventh home run of the season, a solo shot to left, got the Red Sox on the scoreboard in the sixth. That was the only run Sabathia surrendered, scattering four hits with five strikeouts and three walks over seven frames.
Joba Chamberlain entered in the eighth, and Rodriguez booted Marco Scutaro's grounder for an error before Dustin Pedroia singled to right. J.D. Drew clubbed a run-scoring double to left and Youkilis drove in a pair of runs with a single in front of Thames in right. David Ortiz knocked in the game-tying run on a single off the wall in right-center field, scoring Youkilis for a 5-5 game.
Boston then attacked the Yankees' closer a day after Papelbon's ninth-inning problems. Darnell McDonald singled with one out, and Mariano Rivera (0-1) appeared to have a second out on Scutaro's fly ball to right, but Thames tried to catch the ball waist high and it hit the base of his glove and then the ground.
Jeremy Hermida then hit a two-run double over Winn's head in left for the 7-5 margin. The Yankees made it interesting in the ninth, as Robinson Cano doubled home Rodriguez and was 90 feet from a tie game with one out before Papelbon escaped.
The Yankees scored two runs in the second on RBIs from Miranda and Winn, then Miranda hit a solo shot on a line over the wall in left during the fourth. Cano’s two-run double in the fifth made the score 5-0, ending Beckett’s night.
Cano is now batting .325 on the season...Hermida pinch-hit for Drew in the eighth despite Drew’s two hits on the night...Beckett’s earned run average now sits at 7.29...New York has still won five of eight meetings with the Red Sox this season.
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