The New York Yankees avoid the sweep behind a dominant Andy Pettitte

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox by the score of 4-2 on Thursday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees and pitched great and Mariano Rivera got into his first game and earned his first save of the season. Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervelli each hit a homerun. 
Pettitte pitched eight innings giving up one run on eight hits. He walked one and struck out three, Rivera pitched one inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk and a strikeout. Pettitte earned his first win and Rivera his first save of the season.

Gardner had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Robinson Cano drew a walk and Kevin Youkilis had a hit. Travis Hafner had a hit, Ichiro Suzuki drew a walk and Eduardo Nunez had two hits. Lyle Overbay had a hit and two RBI and Francisco Cervelli had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Nunez and Youkilis each hit a homerun and Gardner and Cervelli each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Gardner and Nunez were each caught stealing.

Ryan Dempster pitched five innings giving up five hits and three runs with four walks and eight strikeouts and he took the loss. Junichi Tazawa pitched one inning giving up a hit and Clayton Mortensen pitched two innings giving up two hits and a run.

Shane Victorino had a hit, Dustin Pedroia drew two walks and Mike Napoli had a hit. Jonny Gomes had a hit, Will Middlebrooks had two hits and an RBI and Jackie Bradley Jr. had a hit and an RBI. David Ross had a hit and Jose Iglesias had two hits. Bradley and Gomes each hit a double and the Red Sox were 0-3 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Victorino had an outfield assist.

In the second Overbay hit a two run single to make it 2-0 Yankees. In the third inning the Yankees took a 3-0 lead on a Gardner solo homerun. In the seventh the Red Sox got on the board with a Bradley RBI double. The Yankees got the run right back in the bottom of the seventh on a Cervelli solo homerun to make it 4-1. The Red Sox scored a run in the ninth on a groundout after a walk and a double and the final score was 4-2.

The Yankees record improved to 1-2 and the Red Sox are 2-1. The Yankees will head to Detroit to begin a three game series. The Yankees and Tigers will play on Friday afternoon. The Red Sox will head north to take on the Blue Jays in Toronto on Friday night.