After the embarrassing Michael Pineda pine tar incident on Wednesday night the New York Yankees needed something positive to happen. Thursday night they turned the page on the incident in a big way as they routed the Boston Red Sox 14-5 at Fenway Park to take 2-of-3 in the series.Dustin
Yangervis Solarte drove in four runs while Mark Teixiera hit his first homer of the year to power the Yankees hitting attack. The Yankees rang up seven runs (three earned) on seven hits in just 2 2/3 innings against Red Sox starter Felix Doubront.
Earlier on Thursday Major League Baseball announced that Pineda would be suspended 10 games (two starts). Later in the day Yankees starter Ivan Nova announced he would be having season ending Tommy John Surgery. The Yankees were desperate for something positive to come from their pitching staff. CC Sabathia (3-2, 4.78) stepped up and pitched six strong innings, giving up just two runs on three hits while striking out eight to get the win.
"He's taken the mindset since spring training he needs to be the ace of this staff," Yankees catcher Brian McCann said. "He gave us a great outing."
The Yankees scoring began in the first when Alfonso Soriano doubled (5) to right, scoring Carlos Beltran who had reached on an error by shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
In the second inning Solarte doubled (8) to left, scoring Brock Holt and Brian Roberts to make it a 3-0 Yankees lead. Solarte himself scored on a wild pitch by Doubront to make it 4-0.
Teixiera homered (1) to begin the third inning. Doubront committed the second Red Sox error by mishandling a grounder by Brett Gardner which allowed him to safely reach first base. Gardner then stole second and third on Doubront. Roberts then singled to center, driving in Gardner to make the Doubront error costly for the Red Sox. Roberts then stole (3) the third Yankees base of the inning by taking second. Jacoby Ellsbury singled home Roberts to make it a 7-0 Yankees lead. Red Sox manager John Ferrell had seen enough of Doubront and made a pitching change, bringing in Burke Badenhop. Badenhop struck out Derek Jeter to end the inning.
"It was bad, man. I couldn't get my job done," Doubront said. "Probably [a] loss of concentration, that's what happened. It was terrible."
It was Doubront's second outing of the season going only 2 2/3 innings. On 04/08 he went 2 2/3 innings against the Texas Rangers, giving up five runs on six hits in the 10-7 Red Sox loss.
"Every team goes through slumps hitting, goes through slumps defensively," Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. "It's part of the game. We're definitely going to get better. That's not the kind of team that we are."
The Red Sox began their scoring in the bottom of the third against Sabathia. Dustin Pedroia led off the inning with a walk. Shane Victorino then doubled to left, moving Pedroia to third. David Ortiz then hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Pedroia. Johnny Gomes doubled to center, scoring Victorino and making it a 7-2 Yankees lead.
It stayed quiet until the seventh when the Yankees would erupt for five runs off of Craig Breslow. McCann led off with a singe to left. Gardner then received a walk on four straight balls. Roberts was then able to reach on another fielding error by the Red Sox as third baseman Brock Holt botched a force attempt to load the bases. Solarte followed the error by singling to right field, scoring McCann and Gardner. Roberts took third. Ellsbury then hit a ground-rule double (7) to right that scored Roberts. Jeter singled to center scoring Solarte and making it a 12-2 Yankees lead.
Shane Greene replaced Sabathia in the bottom of the seventh. Bradley led off the inning with a walk. Pedroia reached on an error by Jeter as he attempted to force out Bradley at second. Bradley then took third base. With Victorino at the plate, McCann allowed a pitch to get by him that scored Bradley and sent Pedroia to second. Greene then walked Jonathan Herrera and Napoli to load the bases. Yankees manager Joe Girardi brought Adam Warren in from the bullpen. Gomes hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Pedroia. Bogaerts then doubled (4) to center, scoring Herrera and making it a 12-5 Yankees lead.
The Yankees scored again in the eighth on a wild pitch by Edward Mujica, scoring Roberts from third. Another Yankees run in the ninth came after Ferrell moved left fielder Mike Carp into the game as a reliever. Carp made his major league debut as a reliever by walking five in the inning, including four in a row that scored Ellsbury to make it 14-5 Yankees.
"They're the team to beat, bottom line," said Jeter. "They won the championship, they're the defending champions, so they're the team to beat. We've played them well the first seven games. We play them 12 [more] times. It's good that we've played them well now, but we'll see them again, and I'm sure they'll be ready for us."
The Red Sox bullpen was unable to pick up Doubront. They went 6 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits while walking 10 batters. The Red Sox defense wasn't any better committing five errors in the game.
"It was definitely a cool experience," said Carp while keeping a positive outlook, "unfortunately, a bad situation to come into."