American League Game Summary - New York at Boston
(Sunday, July 8th)
Final Score: New York 7, Boston 3
Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Heading into the All-Star break, Andruw Jones
looks a lot like the Yankees' premier power hitter.
It only took him two days to go from seven home runs to 11.
"I saw pitches to hit and didn't miss," he said.
Jones belted his fourth homer in three games on Sunday -- less than 24 hours
before teammate Robinson Cano will captain the American League Home Run Derby
team -- and the Yankees beat the Red Sox 7-3.
New York won three of the four games in the series against their bitter rivals
and head into the break with a seven-game lead over Baltimore for first place
in the AL East.
The Red Sox, who split a doubleheader on Saturday even though Jones had three
homers in the two games, lost six of their last seven games to fall 9 1/2 back
of the Yankees.
Jones hit a two-run blast in the seventh inning that made it 7-2. He missed a
fifth homer in the series by several feet outside the left field pole in the
ninth.
The Yankees scored two more first inning runs to give them 14 for the series
and banged out 14 hits to back Ivan Nova, who snapped a three-start winless
streak.
"It's always good to score first and give our pitcher a chance to relax," said
Jones.
Nova (10-3) struck out 10 batters in six innings, allowing two runs -- one
earned -- on six hits and two walks for his first victory since June 17 at
Washington.
Derek Jeter went 3-for-5 with a couple hiccups in the field.
Red Sox starter Jon Lester (5-6) didn't make it out of the fifth inning. He
gave up five runs -- four earned -- on nine hits and two walks in 4 1/3 frames
with six strikeouts.
Boston first baseman Adrian Gonzalez left the game with flu-like symptoms
after the second inning. He struck out in the first, ending his MLB-leading
18-game hitting streak.
"He got sick during the game. When he was coughing he got real dizzy and his
eyes were watering. He's been on medication for a while," said Red Sox manager
Bobby Valentine. "An 18-game hitting streak and he left it out there with one
at-bat. He must have been pretty sick."
Rafael Soriano threw 31 pitches in the bottom of the ninth but escaped a jam,
stranding runners at second and third.
The Yankees are 5-1 in the season series.
Jeter sparked New York's two-run first with a leadoff single, but he also
dropped a pop-up in the bottom of the inning to let the Red Sox score.
Curtis Granderson also singled and Jeter scored on Mark Teixeira's double as
the first three Yankee hitters all reached base. Granderson later came around
on a fielder's choice to make it 2-0.
"It's tough to be behind, that's for sure," said Valentine. "We got better --
five runs, four runs, three runs, two runs. But we were looking for no runs in
that first inning."
Pedro Ciriaco, who had four hits in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader
after being called up the day before, stroked a one-out single in the first
for Boston and stole second base. He scored when Cody Ross' pop-up behind
second base hit the heel of Jeter's glove.
The Yankees went up 3-1 in the second after Jayson Nix hit a leadoff double,
went to third on a passed ball and scored on Chris Stewart's sacrifice fly.
Jeter bobbled a grounder by Ciriaco in the third -- it was ruled a single, one
of Ciriaco's three hits -- and David Ortiz followed with an RBI double off the
Green Monster to get the Red Sox within a run.
"We gave them some extra outs," lamented Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who said
Jeter was suffering from a cramp in his shoulder but would play in Tuesday's
All-Star Game.
But the Yankees scored twice in the fifth, the first run coming after Teixeira
singled off the Monster and Alex Rodriguez tripled.
Red Sox center field Ryan Sweeney remained on the ground for a few scary
minutes after crashing head-first into the padded wall near the corner in
right-center trying to track down Rodriguez's hit. Rodriguez later scored on
Jones' single to make it 5-2 Yankees.
Jones blew the game open with his 11th homer of the season, a shot into the
Green Monster seats off Scott Atchison that came after Nick Swisher doubled
off the wall with one out.
Mike Aviles hit an RBI double off David Robertson in the eighth to score
Jarrod Saltalamacchia for Boston's final run.
Game Notes
Cano is the defending derby champion...The Yankees went 4-3 on a seven-game
road trip and will open the second half against the Angels on Friday to start
a six-game homestand...The Red Sox will play three games at Tampa Bay starting
Friday...Nova was 0-1 in his previous three starts. He also beat Boston on
April 20 this year...The Yankees optioned pitcher Cory Wade to Triple-A
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre...The Red Sox assigned pitcher Mike MacDonald to Double-
A Portland and optioned pitcher Clayton Mortensen and outfielder Ryan Kalish
to Triple-A Pawtucket.
07/09 02:53:11 ET

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