Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

July 9, 2012

Red Sox: How about a break

Boston has another rough first inning and loses to the Yankees for the third time this weekend heading into the All-Star break.

The Associated Press

BOSTON — Ivan Nova struck out 10, Andruw Jones hit his fourth homer in three games, and the surging New York Yankees went into the All-Star break with a 7-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night.

The Yankees took 3 of 4 at Fenway Park and boosted their record to a major league-best 52-33. They hold the biggest division lead in baseball at seven games over Baltimore.

Boston (43-43) dropped its sixth game in the last seven and fell into a last-place tie in the division with the Toronto Blue Jays, 9 games off the pace. Only three AL teams – Minnesota, Kansas City and Seattle – are below .500 at the break.

Nova (10-3) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings. Jones provided a cushion with a two-run homer in the seventh that gave New York a 7-2 lead.

Jon Lester (5-6), who won at least 15 games in each of the last four seasons, left with one out in the fifth after giving up five runs and nine hits. Until Sunday, he had rebounded from early-season troubles and posted a 3.86 ERA in 13 starts.

The Yankees scored in the first inning in all four games in the series and took a 2-0 lead in the finale.

The first three batters all hit safely – singles by Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson and an RBI double by Mark Teixeira. Granderson scored when Nick Swisher grounded into a forceout.

The Red Sox got an unearned run in the bottom of the inning when Jeter dropped a routine pop-up by Cody Ross with two outs. Pedro Ciriaco, who had singled and stolen second, scored on the misplay.

New York made it 3-1 in the second on a double by Jayson Nix, a passed ball by Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a sacrifice fly by Chris Stewart. Boston came back again with a run in the third on Ciriaco’s single and David Ortiz’s double.

The Yankees drove Lester from the game in the fifth, scoring twice for a 5-2 lead. Teixeira started the rally with a single and scored on a triple by Alex Rodriguez. Jones then singled in Rodriguez.

Nova won five consecutive starts before going 0-1 in his next three. He would have gotten out of a first-inning jam had Jeter held on to the soft pop-up near second base. Nova even pumped his fist and started walking off the mound but stopped as the ball bounced out of Jeter’s glove.

Then Nova struck out the side in the second before escaping trouble in the third when the Red Sox scored a run and loaded the bases with one out. But Saltalamacchia struck out for the fifth time in seven at-bats and Ryan Sweeney grounded out.

Nova fanned three of his last four batters and at least one in each of his six innings.

Jones’ homer was his 11th of the season and the Yankees’ 134th, most in the majors. They’re on a pace for a club-record 255. The 1997 Seattle Mariners hold the major league record with 264.

NOTES: Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a double in the ninth.

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