Yankees Rally For Two Home Runs in Ninth; Steal Rubber Game From Red Sox

Chris Capuano gave up 4 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings and the offense didn't reach second in innings 4-9, but since Mark Teixeira and Chase Headley both took Koji Uehera deep in the ninth the Yankees found a way to beat the Red Sox tonight, 5-4, in the rubber game at The Stadium.

For just about every at-bat in this one, contrary to what that final score suggests, the Yanks couldn't do anything against Brandon Workman (6 IP, 3 ER), only putting up a trio in the bottom of the third when Derek Jeter doubled home a pair and Carlos Beltran got him in with a single. 

So, after a couple of home runs by David Ortiz as well as wall-scraper by Brock Holt New York trailed 4-3 for a good amount of time this evening, an annoying misfortune that almost made the bullpen's perfect 4 2/3 frames irrelevant.

I guess you could say that didn't happen.

Yep, after the bats didn't do anything for five straight turns the aforementioned Teixeira/Headley duo randomly hit balls into the right field seats in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Yanks a much-needed W. 

No, it wasn't perfect, but like I just said, it was pretty needed, something that is arguably the case with every Yankees contest from now on.

No Offense Ruins Tanaka's Great Start in 2-1 Loss to Red Sox

Back on June 8, the Yankees went for 1-for-17 with RISP in an embarrassing loss to the Royals.

In the game, the Yanks' offense, probably the most inconsistent in baseball, had plenty of chances to score or take the lead, but didn't due to a lazy effort.

Well, that kind of frustrating performance unfortunately happened again tonight, as the Bombers wasted a dominant start from Masahiro Tanaka in a tough, 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Red Sox.

In the outing, Tanaka wasn't the slightest bit inconsistent, although he did surrender a pair of homers to David Ross and Mike Napoli, with Napoli's coming with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth. 

Interestingly, that blast from Napoli happened in his fourth and final plate appearance, following his striking out on the splitter in two of the first three.

Still, Tanaka (9 Innings Pitched, 2 Earned Runs, 7 H, 1 BB, 8 K) inexplicably didn't go with his signature pitch on the ball the Sox First Basemen hit into right field's first row, costing him the contest, as the Yanks' unsurprisingly didn't score off Koji Uehera in their last at-bat. 

That trend of not crossing home when it matters was recurring for Bombers in the loss, with them collecting just one run over 8 innings off Jon Lester.

That circling of the bases, not earned due to an error by Boston SS Stephen Drew, came in the bottom of the third, when Derek Jeter grounded out routinely to drive in Brian Roberts. 

Besides that, as you can see by the final score, the Pinstripes' bats just couldn't do anything, going 0-for-5 with men on second and third while also grounding into a rally-killing double play in the bottom of the eighth, wasting what looked like a very promising lead-off walk from Brett Gardner.