Bronx, NY – Jonny Gomes finished 3-for-4 with a three-run blast and four RBI as the Boston Red Sox outlasted the New York Yankees, 13-9, in the third edition of a four-game series.
Mike Napoli went deep twice and knocked in three runs for the Red Sox, while rookie Xander Bogaerts clubbed his first MLB homer among his two hits and three RBI.
Boston has taken 10 of 15 from the Yanks this season, including seven of nine at Yankee Stadium. The AL East leaders have racked up 34 runs thus far in this set, having increased their output in each successive contest.
Backed by that prolific offense, John Lackey (9-12) picked up the win despite allowing eight hits and seven runs over 5 2/3 innings.
"Yeah, the boys picked me up today. They swung the bats great. They've swung the bats great the whole series," Lackey said. "It's fun to watch when they get on a roll like that."
Brett Gardner collected two hits, two RBI and scored three times for the Yankees, who fell 11 games behind their bitter foes. Mark Reynolds hit a two- run double, while Ichiro Suzuki, Lyle Overbay, Alfonso Soriano and Robinson Cano knocked in a run each.
Despite Saturday's attempted comeback from a 10-2 deficit, New York became the first club in AL history to score eight-or-more runs in three straight home games and lose each one.
In his first start of 2013, David Huff (2-1) was torched in defeat for eight hits and nine runs over 3 1/3 frames.
"It was terrible. To come off what I've been doing here and to have that happen today, it was just embarrassing," said Huff, who only surrendered two earned runs over 16 innings previously as a reliever.
The Red Sox broke the game open in the fourth. Will Middlebrooks and Jackie Bradley, Jr. singled and a Ryan Lavarnway double plated one for a 6-2 score, then a Bogaerts groundout RBI and run-scoring double by Shane Victorino pushed the advantage to six and chased Huff from the contest.
Jim Miller entered and immediately gave up an RBI hit to Gomes, and after Dustin Pedroia doubled, a fly to center from David Ortiz brought in Gomes to make it 10-2.
"We wanted to try to get a lead," said Napoli, who went deep twice. "We really haven't scored runs for Lackey, so it was nice to get a couple runs early for him and let him settle in."
Suzuki doubled home Eduardo Nunez in the bottom of the frame, then Bogaerts smacked his first career homer, a two-run shot with Bradley aboard and two down in the fifth for a 12-3 contest.
"Good to get it out of the way as quick as possible, just like the first hit," said Bogaerts. "It's good to always get those as quickly as possible."
Lackey was chased in the bottom of the sixth, after Gardner doubled in two and Derek Jeter followed with an RBI single which reduced New York's deficit to 12-6. Matt Thornton gave up a two-out hit to Soriano to bring in pinch-runner Reynolds to get the Yanks within five.
In the home eighth, J.R. Murphy singled and advanced on a passed ball, then Gardner walked and Reynolds plated both with a double to left and the hosts trailed only 12-9.
Napoli's second homer of the contest flew out to left center with one out in the ninth and boosted Boston to a four-run edge, and the madness ended in the bottom of the inning as Junichi Tazawa and Craig Breslow combined to hold the Bombers scoreless.
"We have to turn it around," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "The bottom line is we have to pitch better, because we are scoring some runs. We have to figure out how to get them out."
The Red Sox hit the scoreboard first, when Ortiz doubled to kick off the second and Napoli reached the seats in left for a 2-0 game.
New York picked up a run in the home half as Soriano worked a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second and scored on Overbay's two-out base hit.
Boston picked up three more in the following frame. Bogaerts hit a leadoff double, Victorino was hit by a pitch and Gomes drilled a ball deep to left which provided a 5-1 margin. Suzuki then prevented an extra-base hit by making a leaping grab of an Ortiz drive at the wall in right.
The Yanks struck back in the home portion, as Cano singled home Gardner, who singled to start and advanced on a Lackey wild pitch.
Game Notes
Boston has won three in a row in the Bronx for the first time since taking six straight from May 13-June 9, 2011 ... Napoli, who now has 13 games of at least two home runs, posted his last multi-homer performance against the Yankees, in an 8-7 win at Fenway Park on July 21 ... Prior to the contest, the Red Sox recalled Bradley from Triple-A Pawtucket ... Jeter departed the game late due to an undisclosed injury to his left ankle, finishing 1-for-4 .The Yankees captain underwent a CT scan following the game which turned up no signs of damage ... Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was rested on Saturday ... According to a Boston newspaper, Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury left the club and returned to the Hub with his right foot in a walking boot, in order to further evaluate an injury to the navicular bone which has kept him out of the lineup since Thursday.
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