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* Yankees prevail in slugfest
* Solidify best record in majors and lead in AL East
* Beckett and Kuroda struggle
July 6 (Reuters) – The New York Yankees solidified their
lead at the top of the American League East with a 10-8 victory
over division rivals the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on
Friday.
Both sides started with in-form pitchers in the first of a
four game series but neither Josh Beckett or Hiroki Kuroda could
halt an explosive opening where both sides scored five runs in
the first inning.
The Yankees took control in the seventh, turning a 7-6
deficit into a 10-7 lead with a four run charge.
The victory was New York’s 50th win of the season (50-32),
holding onto the best record in the majors after Texas (50-34)
fell to Minnesota and kept them out in front in the division.
Red Sox (42-41) stayed mired in fourth, eight-and-a-half
games back.
Derek Jeter punched the opening pitch of the night to center
field for a single, perhaps signalling the offensive fireworks
of the slugfest to come.
The Yankees then went through the entire line up at the
plate.
Curtis Granderson singled, Alex Rodriguez was hit by a
pitch, while Robinson Cano was walked for a 1-0 lead.
Mark Teixeira drove in two with a single to center, Nick
Swisher belted a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in
another, Raul Ibanez advanced the runner with a base hit before
Eric Chavez completed the scoring with a sacrifice fly allowing
Teixeira to make it 5-0.
But rather then shirk away from the tough task at hand the
Red Sox came out swinging against their bitter rivals and tied
things up quickly.
â??”You know in this ballpark a lot of crazy things happen,”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
“â??My thought is, just keep building on the lead, keep
building on the lead. But I looked up in the top of the second
and there was no lead.”
Daniel Nava got things rolling with a double off the green
monster, Ryan Kalish drove in a run on a sacrifice fly while
David Ortiz singled.
Cody Ross got aboard on a Chavez error, Adrian Gonzalez
drove in another run with a double off the wall and then Jarrod
Saltalamacchia smashed his 17th home run of the year over right
field to tie things up at 5-5.
A run each in the second left the scores at 6-6 before Mauro
Gomez gave Boston their first lead of the night in the bottom of
the fifth by driving in Gonzalez.
They kept the advantage until the seventh when the Yankees
once again exploded.
Teixeira pummelled a massive shot to center, big enough to
clear most ball parks, but it landed just inside Fenway
resulting in a triple and two runs scored. Ibanez and Chavez
added further doubles and RBI’s to push the score to 10-7.
Ross countered with a solo home run in the bottom of the
inning but Boston couldn’t reduce the deficit any further.
“â??It seems like the same story every time we come here,”
Jeter said. “â??No lead ever seems like it’s safe.”
(Reporting By Ben Everill in Los Angeles; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
