Game 113 - Red Sox 3, Yankees 2

Red Sox manager Terry Francona summed it up rather succintly after the game last night. Trailing the Yankees 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th with Mariano Rivera on the mound, "Scoot with a huge hit, Jacoby getting a nice bunt down, and Pedey with a good at-bat, and we get to keep playing." Playing, that is, until the bottom of the 10th inning when David Ortiz hit a ground rule double (replaced by pinch runner Darnell McDonald), Carl Crawford was intentionally walked, and Josh Reddick lined a single into the left field corner off reliever Phil Hughes to give the Sox the 3-2 win and sole position of 1st place with 49 games to go.

NOTES -
Josh Beckett pitched 6 innings allowing 1 earned run on 6 hits (one of which was a home run by Eduardo Nunez) and 2 walks while striking out 5. His ERA dropped to 2.17.

Another strong performance by the back end of the Red Sox bullpen. Wheeler, Papelbon and Bard combined for 3 scoreless innings, allowing just 1 hit and no walks while striking out 5.

Think Carl Crawford enjoyed having the Yankee pitchers in town? His 3-for-4 performance last night pushed his average up to .260.

The win improves the Red Sox record against the Yankees this season to 10-2. With 6 games remaining between the two, the Red Sox are guaranteed to win the season series with New York for the 1st time since 2004.

The blown save was the 5th this season for Mariano Rivera and 14th of his career against the Red Sox.