The Yankees take the series in Boston behind a strong Nova

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox by the score of 7-3 on Sunday night. The game took place at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and pitched very well. The bullpen was able to mix and match to close it out. Jon Lester started for the Red Sox and didn’t pitch great. Derek Jeter and Andruw Jones led the Yankees offense. Pedro Ciriaco led the Red Sox offense. 
Nova pitched six innings giving up six hits and two runs with one earned run. He walked two and struck out ten. Nova is now 10-3 on the season. Cody Eppley pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two walks, Clay Rapada pitched to one batter and struck him out and Dave Robertson pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with two walks and a strikeout. Rafael Soriano struggled in a non save situation but pitched a scoreless inning. He walked two and struck out the side.

Lester lost his sixth game of the season pitching 4 1/3 innings giving up nine hits and five runs with four of them being earned. He walked two and struck out six. Scott Atchison pitched two innings giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout. Mark Melancon pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and he struck out three and Alfredo Aceves pitched an inning giving up a hit and walking one.

Jeter had three hits, Curtis Granderson had two hits and Mark Teixeira had two hits and an RBI. Alex Rodriguez had a hit and an RBI, Robinson Cano had a hit and drew a walk. Cano extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Nick Swisher had two hits, an RBI and drew two walks, Jones had two hits and three RBI and Nix had a hit. Chris Stewart had an RBI, Teixeira, Nix, Swisher and Cano each had a double. Rodriguez had a triple and Jones hit a homerun. The Yankees were 3-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Jeter committed an error.

Daniel Nava drew a walk, Ciriaco had three hits and drew a walk and David Ortiz had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Nick Punto had two hits and drew a walk, Cody Ross drew a walk and Jarrod Saltalamacchia drew a walk. Mauro Gomez drew a walk and Alex Aviles had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Ortiz and Aviles each hit a double. The Red Sox were 2-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. Ciriaco had a stolen base and Saltalamacchia had a passed ball.

The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Teixeira had an RBI double and Swisher grounded into a force out scoring a run. Ross reached on an error by Jeter scoring a run to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the first inning. In the second Stewart hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 Yankees. In the bottom of the third Ortiz hit an RBI double to make it a 3-2 game. In the fifth Rodriguez had an RBI triple and Jones had an RBI single to make it 5-2. Jones hit a two run homerun in the seventh to give the Yankees a 7-2 lead. Aviles hit an RBI double in the eighth to cut the lead to 7-3. The final score was 7-3 as the Yankees closed out the series and the first half.

The Yankees improved their record to 52-33. They finish the first half with the best record in baseball. The Red Sox record dropped to 43-43 and they are ten games back of the Yankees in the loss column. The Yankees will have four days off and start the second half at home against the Anaheim Angels.