Defense Backs Kuroda, Yanks Beat The Red Sox

BOSTON -- Hiroki Kuroda has been nothing but ace-like for the Yankees this season and he continued that trend against the Red Sox on Saturday. Kuroda gave the Yankees seven strong innings, while holding Boston to only two runs on five hits to help the Yanks move a game closer towards first place.

"[Kuroda] had everything today," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "His stuff was really crisp. He kept his pitch count down in the early innings. His stuff was really sharp."

Backed by not only the Yanks' bats, but his defense also chimed in to make several outstanding plays, including two outs at the plate, that helped decide the game.

With Daniel Nava standing on second with two outs in the first, David Ortiz lined a single into left field, giving Nava the impression that he could score, but he was gunned down at home by Vernon Wells to save a run and end the inning.

Later in the 5th, the Red Sox had Mike Carp on third and Johnny Gomes on second with two out when a Kuroda pitch in the dirt made it's way past Chris Stewart, but the ball didn't get far enough away as Carp was nailed out at the plate.

"The ball didn't go all the way to the backstop," Stewart said. "Fortunately it stayed somewhat close to where I could pounce on it pretty quickly."

Keeping Boston off the board, the Yankees put themselves on the board in the 5th when Brett Gardner slapped an RBI single to center field, one of his three hits on the day, to score Luis Cruz.

The Yankees added three more runs in the 7th, two of which were charged to Red Sox starter John Lackey, to pad the lead. After Cruz singled to center to score Nunez, Gardner lined a single into left center field to chase Lackey from the game.

Recently acquired Red Sox reliever Matt Thornton came in only to give up RBI single to Robinson Cano and Lyle Overbay to put the Bombers up by four.

"He's so good," Lackey said of Cano. "He's one of those guys who almost has to get himself out. You try to make the odds go in your favor a little bit, but you just try to execute pitches and hope he hits it at somebody."

Boston answered back with a pair of runs on the bottom half of the 7th off Kuroda, After Ortiz and Carp reached base to begin the inning, Ortiz came in to score on sac-fly by Gomes, then Carp scored on a wild pitch from Kuroda.

Kuroda finished off the 7th, holding the Red Sox to two runs on five hits, while walking one and striking out four on 104 pitches. He had things going for him and most importantly, he was given run support.

"What was most impressive," Red Sox manager John Farrell said, "was even in that sixth and seventh inning, in these conditions, to be able to reach back and touch 95 and 96 [mph] against the meat of our lineup when he needed that extra velocity, he was able to get it."

The outstanding defensive plays didn't spot after Kuroda left the game, with David Robertson on the mound and Nava on first, Dustin Pedroia popped behind the plate for Stewart to make the catch while falling into the stands. Meanwhile, Nava decided to tag at first and was thrown out by Stewart for the double play.

"That's really big, especially with [David] Ortiz on deck right there as the tying run," Stewart said. "I was just glad I caught it. I saw [Nava] go, so I decided to fire it down there and make it close and we beat it. I don't think I've ever seen it turned. One of those rare things that happened."

The after Cano added another run in the 9th on a sac-fly, the Fenway Crowd got a chance to see Mariano Rivera do his thing, striking out Gomes and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to end the game and give the Yankees a 5-2 victory.

Kuroda picked up the win, Robertson was credited with a hold and Mairano came away with his 31st save of the season after tossing a 16 pitch 9th inning.

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