Lester's Solid Start Lifts Red Sox To 9-3 Win
Jon Lester pitched seven strong innings and Jeremy Hermida homered and drove in three runs as the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 9-3 on Sunday night to salvage the final game of their series.
After losing 10-3 and 14-3, the Red Sox finally put their hitting and pitching together and broke the Yankees six-game winning streak.
Lester (3-2) entered the game having allowed just one earned run over his previous 20 2-3 innings and won his third consecutive start. He gave up two runs and four hits against New York while striking out seven.
A.J. Burnett (4-1) worked 4 1-3 innings and gave up nine runs, matching his career-high, also set at Fenway Park last Aug. 22.
Alex Rodriguez tied Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for seventh place with 586 career homers when he hit a solo shot off Lester in the fourth.
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second when J.D. Drew singled, moved up on a wild pitch and scored when Hermida's liner to left glanced off the glove of Marcus Thames for an error and rolled behind him.
They added five runs in the third when they batted around. Boston loaded the bases on a leadoff walk to Marco Scutaro, a double by Dustin Pedroia and a one-out walk to Kevin Youkilis. Drew followed with a sacrifice fly, David Ortiz doubled in a run, Adrian Beltre hit a two-run double and Hermida had an RBI single.
The Yankees cut the lead to 6-2 in the fourth on solo homers by Nick Swisher, his seventh of the season, and Rodriguez, his third of the season and his first in 62 at bats.
Boston made it 7-2 in the fourth on an RBI double by Youkilis and 9-2 in the fifth on a two-run homer by Hermida, his fourth, after a double by Beltre. That homer knocked out Burnett, who had a 15.63 ERA in three games at Fenway Park last year but 4.04 overall.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi was ejected for the first time this season after he protested a called third strike against Thames that ended the top of the fourth. It was his ninth career ejection as a manager, seven of them with the Yankees. He also was ejected three times as a player, one of them with the Yankees.
Jorge Posada started for the Yankees at designated hitter and went 0 for 4 after missing five games with a strained right calf muscle.
Notes: Rodriguez matched Jim Thome with his 21st homer at Fenway Park, the most there by an active player. ... Mark Teixeira, who hit three homers on Saturday, went 0-for-3 with a walk. ... Terry Francona managed his 1,004th (580-423 plus) game in his seven seasons with Boston, passing Bill Carrigan for third place. Joe Cronin is first with 2,007 and Mike Higgins is second with 1,119. ... Red Sox center fielder Mike Cameron will make a rehab appearance for Triple-A Pawtucket after being sidelined since April 19 with an abdominal strain. ... Bruins wing Marco Sturm, out for the season with a knee injury, attended the game. ... New York's Brett Gardner has an 11-game hitting streak.
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