Now that’s how you bounce back.
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The Yankees had beaten the Red Sox five straight times, including a 5-1 win Friday.
Gardner led off with a slow chopper to second base for an infield single, then Rodriguez lined a double to center to make it 4-3.
Red Sox: Buchholz was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right elbow a day after leaving his start in the fourth inning.
“Never count out great players”, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. Boston left fielder Hanley Ramirez was 2-for-4 with a homer on Saturday and has gone deep four times over his past eight games.
“Tonight was I think a key win for us with a chance to win the series tomorrow”, Farrell said.
Rob Refsnyder is spending the All-Star break in New York, helping his fiancée move into a new apartment. But instead of imploding, Rodriguez bore down en route to 6 1/3 solid innings. First it was Wilson, who struck out Betts in his only hitter faced to finish out the seventh. He attacked the strike zone with quality stuff.
Yankees: Girardi said that RHP Ivan Nova, who missed the season’s first 71 games coming off of Tommy John surgery, will get some extra rest during the break. The Red Sox organization sent her flowers and wished her well. It was his eighth of the season, and a mirror of what happened nearly exactly in yesterdays’ game, when Rodriguez homered off of Boston’s Clay Buchholz in the first inning.
“We wanted to see the kid play and how he reacted”, the manager said. Boston ranks 14th in scoring (4.20 rpg), 11th in hitting (.256) and 13th in homers (84), while on the mound they are 28th in ERA (4.40) and 26th in WHIP (1.35). Afterward, he deadpanned: “I wasn’t nervous at all”. He could ultimately replace Stephen Drew as the team’s regular second baseman, he could fall into a platoon role, or he could end up back in the minor leagues.
The Yankees held after the Red Sox scored two unearned runs against Andrew Miller in the ninth. It was also his 12th hit and third homer in 28 career at-bats against Buchholz, Rodriguez saying, “Sometimes numbers can be deceiving – I can’t say that I feel that (good) up there (against him)”. Murphy’s error, De Aza to third. In addition to his diving catch, he went 2-for-4 with a steal and two runs.
The Red Sox’s offense has improved since the beginning of June, though.
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– Leadoff man Mookie Betts went 2-for-4 with a triple that drove in an insurance run in the seventh. Pedroia has resumed baseball activity and it appears like the second baseman will be ready when Boston opens the stretch run of the season next week in Anaheim.
