Yankees Ruin Fenway Celebration, Beat Red Sox 6-2

On the 100-year anniversary of Fenway Park, fans of the Boston Red Sox began the day cheering for Terry “Tito” Francona out of sheer joy and elation when he walked onto the field for a pregame ceremony. But by the end of this afternoon’s 6-2 loss to the Yankees, those same fans would chant “We Want Tito” with great disdain towards Boston’s new manager Bobby Valentine.

The Yankees got on the board first with an Alex Rodriguez RBI single in the top of the first, followed by solo homeruns by Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez in the top of the second. David Ortiz would get a run back with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the second, only to be answered by Chavez’ second solo shot of the day and career homerun #631 for Alex Rodriguez, putting the Yankees ahead 5-1 in the fifth inning and giving A-Rod sole possession of fifth place on the all-time homerun list.

Boston would threaten a few more times, and scored their final run of the game on a Mike Aviles RBI double in the bottom of the 5th. But in the end, Ivan Nova proved to be too much for the Red Sox, and Russell Martin would hit the Yankees’ 5th solo homerun of the game in the top of the 6th to give the “Bronx Bombers” a 6-2 victory.

Nova did a terrific job overcoming several base runners, scattering seven hits and two runs over 6 innings pitched, striking out 5. On the flip-side, Boston starter Clay Buchholz allowed all six Yankee runs on nine hits in his 6 innings of work. Buchholz would also walk a pair and strike out a pair.

The second of 18 games between these two heated rivals will commence Saturday afternoon at Fenway, pitting Freddy Garcia against Felix Doubront. The first pitch will be 4:05pm, and you can catch all of the action right here on 104.5 “The Team” ESPN Radio!