After being outscored 24-6 in the first two games against New York, the Boston offense took out their frustrations on A.J. Burnett in a 9-3 win Sunday night at Fenway Park. The Red Sox scored at least nine runs for the third time in seven games. The loss ended the Yankees’ five-game winning streak.
Leading 1-0, Boston exploded for five runs off Burnett in the bottom of the third inning. With the bases loaded and one out, J.D. Drew brought in a run with a sacrifice fly RBI. David Ortiz followed with a run-scoring double, and Adrian Beltre added a two-run double. Jeremy Hermida completed the scoring with an RBI single to give Boston a 6-1 lead.
Despite entering the game with a 4-0 record and a 1.99 ERA, Burnett (4-1) continued his struggles with the Yankees against the Red Sox. He allowed a season-high nine runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and three walks in 4.1 innings. Burnett has a 9.78 ERA in six starts as a Yankee against the Red Sox.
While Burnett struggled, Jon Lester (3-2) was the beneficiary of the Boston offense. He limited New York to two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over seven innings. Lester retired nine of the first 10 Yankees and improved to 4-1 all-time against New York.
Prior to Boston’s five-run third, the Red Sox opened the scoring in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Hermida’s line drive went off the glove of left fielder Marcus Thames to score Drew from second. It was Boston’s first lead in the series.
The Yankees scored their first two runs on a pair of solo home runs in the top of the fourth. Nick Swisher led off the inning with his seventh home run of the season over the Green Monster. Two batters later, Alex Rodriguez’s third round-tripper cut the deficit to 6-2. It was his 586th career home run to tie Frank Robinson for seventh on the all-time list.
New York would not get any closer as Boston added three more runs. Kevin Youkilis delivered an RBI double in the fourth, and Hermida’s two-run home run in the fifth gave Boston a 9-2 advantage. The Yankees scored the final run of the game on Robinson Cano’s RBI single in the top of the eighth.
New York will travel to Detroit to open a four-game series on Monday. Sergio Mitre (0-0, 2.79), starting in place of Andy Pettitte, will get the ball for the Yankees against the Tigers Dontrelle Willis (1-1, 3.99). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET.
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