Red Sox left reeling as Yankees strike late

BASEBALL: AFTER SO much frustration and disappointment two weeks into the season, it seemed things could not get any worse for the Boston Red Sox.

But along came Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira and the New York Yankees to prove that it could. The Yankees trailed, 9-0, after five innings, and it seemed as if the Red Sox would hold on for an important victory against their historic foe. But when Boston manager Bobby Valentine turned to his deeply struggling bullpen, the Yankees pounced with 14 runs to stun the Red Sox, 15-9, on Saturday at Fenway Park.

Luckily for the Red Sox, last night’s game with the Yankees was postponed by inclement weather. The game was called some five hours before the scheduled first pitch because of rain up and down the east coast of the US.

Most of the damage on Saturday was done by Swisher and Teixeira, who each drove in six runs as the Yankees sent the already shocked Red Sox closer to the edge of desperation. Swisher hit a grand slam and a two-run double, and Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate and added a two-run double.

The Yankees scored seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings to complete the comeback and wipe away another poor start from Freddy Garcia, whose position in the starting rotation grew even less secure when he was knocked out in the second inning.

But Garcia was spared a loss as the Yankees tied the club record for the largest deficit overcome to win a game, equalling a mark that had been achieved four times before.

“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had in a regular-season game,” said Teixeira, “and I’ve played in a lot of games”.

For Valentine, the opposite may have been true. With each failed pitching change, the manager was booed loudly by fans who, barely two weeks into the season, are angry and impatient over Bostons 4-10 start. When it was over, all that was left was a debate about whether the Red Sox had reached the lowest point of their despair or had further depths to plumb.

“I think we’ve hit bottom,” Valentine said shortly before he met with team owner John Henry, president Larry Lucchino and general manager Ben Cherington. “That’s what I told them after the game. I told them you sometimes have to hit bottom. If this isn’t bottom, we’ll find some new ends of the earth, I guess.”

Shortstop Mark Aviles, whose error in the seventh inning added to the impact of Teixeira’s second home run, was not sure, either.

“In all honesty, I don’t want to see if it gets any worse,” he said.

After starter Felix Doubront pitched well through six innings, the Red Sox’s bullpen allowed 13 earned runs, the most it has given up since 1994. Boston had not blown a nine-run lead since 2009. And it has not blown a bigger lead since it wasted a 10-run bulge in 1989.

“In this park, a lot of things can happen,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.That is especially true when the home team’s earned run average is 6.68. Doubront held the Yankees scoreless until Teixeira came to the plate with one out in the sixth. He then drove a pitch over the Green Monster from the right side of the plate.

Doubront threw 99 pitches after six innings, so he was pulled for Vicente Padilla, who gave up Swisher’s grand slam, which made the score 9-5. Three batters later, after Aviles’ error, Teixeira hit a three-run homer from the left side to make it 9-8. It was the 13th game in which Teixeira has homered from both sides of the plate, extending his major league record.

While he was getting dressed before he game, Teixeira noticed that while one of his socks had his number 25 on it, the other one was transposed with number 52.

“I actually said to myself, ‘CC’s a pretty good player, I’ll try it,’ ” said Teixeira. “I’m definitely going to keep wearing it.”

In the eighth inning, with Alfredo Aceves pitching, Swisher came up with Eduardo Nunez on second and Derek Jeter on first, and he ripped a double off the wall. As Nunez and Jeter came across the plate, the Yankees took the lead, 10-9, and Swisher stood at second base screaming in delight.

“Thats a big win for us,” said Swisher.

After the game Cherington announced that the Red Sox had traded for Marlon Byrd to play center field, and he said that more changes were in store involving the pitching. He refused to blame Valentine for the mess the team is in and accepted his share of the responsibility.

“He’s doing the best he can with the roster he has,” said Cherington. “It will get better. He knows that and I know that, and along the way, if changes need to be made on the roster, thats my responsibility.”

Saturday was the third consecutive game in which a Yankee hit at least two home runs. Curtis Granderson hit three on Thursday, Eric Chavez hit two on Friday and Mark Teixeira two on Saturday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time the Yankees have done that since 1961, when Roger Maris, Clete Boyer and Johnny Blanchard did it. The Yankees scored seven runs in back-to-back innings for the second time. The last time was also at Fenway Park, in 2000.

New York Times