Pitching, Napoli shine as Red Sox lose to Yankees
Miller's effectiveness came on his devastating slider, a pitch that will be important for him in solidifying a spot in the bullpen. Although they faced a very weak Yankees lineup (Brett Gardner and Eduardo Nunez were the only name-worthy starters), Boston's pitching was very impressive in the first five innings -- in fact, they only threw five balls in those five innings.
Joel Hanrahan was not as sharp, as he came in for the 6th and gave up three runs, although only one earned; Drew Sutton's two errors at third base led to two unearned runs. Hanrahan allowed two hits, two walks, and struck out one, but needed Junichi Tazawa to get him out of a bases loaded jam with a strike out. Andrew Bailey struck out the side in the 8th inning, but not before giving up a run on back to back doubles.
The Sox first got on the board in the top of the 2nd on Mike Napoli's first home run in a Red Sox uniform. Peter Abraham estimated Napoli's blast to center at 420+ feet and would have landed "5-10 rows beyond the wall just to the left of the triangle." We all knew Napoli had power, and could do serious damage to a team's pitching staff; however, it's nice that that pitching staff isn't Boston's
Other notable Red Sox offensive plate appearances:
- Will Middlebrooks walked in his first time up since injuring his wrist, and grounded into a fielder's choice in his second time up
- Dustin Pedroia and Stephen Drew both collected singled and went 1-3
- Daniel Nava didn't help himself in the position race for a bench spot by going 0-3
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