SPUTTERING
Yankee bats are flat against Lester, Bosox
JON LESTER made Bobby Valentine’s job pretty easy on Saturday.
Hours after Valentine admitted that he was “not doing a good job” managing the Red Sox this year, Lester went out and dominated the Yankees, leading Boston to a 4-1 win at the Stadium.
Lester, who entering Saturday was 1-4 with a 7.53 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break, tossed seven innings of one-run ball, holding the Bombers to five hits and two walks while striking out four.
“When you look up at the numbers and see it, you kind of step back because you know that’s not the type of pitcher that he is,” said Nick Swisher, who had two hits against Lester and finished 3-for-4. “Tonight you got the best Jon Lester that we’ve seen in a while.”
David Phelps delivered his second solid start in place of CC Sabathia, holding the Red Sox to three runs on seven hits over a career-high 6.2 innings. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter in what was likely his final start before Sabathia returns next weekend.
“I’m not going to be able to do what he does,” Phelps said. “I just go out there and try to keep us in the game every time my name’s called.”
Phelps’ biggest mistake came on Adrian Gonzalez’s first-inning home run to left that staked Lester to a quick two-run lead.
That proved to be enough for the Red Sox, as the Yankees went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, stranding six — four of them in scoring position.
“It’s hard to win a game when you do that,” Joe Girardi said. “When you have some opportunities and you’re not able to score runs and tie the ballgame up if you have a chance, when you don’t do that, usually you’re going to lose games.”
The win was only Boston’s fourth in 11 games against the Yankees, leaving them 12½ games out of first place in the American League East with 41 to play.
Carl Crawford reached on a one-out single to left in the first, then stole second base. Phelps was one out away from an escape when Gonzalez drilled a 92-mph fastball into the left-field seats for a 2-0 Boston lead.
“It was right where we wanted it,” Phelps said of the pitch. “That ball’s down and off the plate a little bit. He’s strong and he got enough of it.”
Phelps threw 20 pitches in that first inning, but he settled into a groove, retiring 10 of the next 11 batters.
“I thought he used everything that he had; even the home run he gave up, it was a ball off the plate,” Girardi said. “It’s not even a strike that he gave up, so I thought he did a really good job.”
Lester looked nothing like the pitcher who came into Saturday’s start with a 6-10 record and a 5.20 ERA. The lefthander gave up two hits to open the Yankee first, but he struck out Robinson Cano, retired Andruw Jones on a groundout and fanned Casey McGehee to strand the two runners in scoring position.
“Every time you go up against a guy like that, you know it’s always going to be a battle,” Swisher said. “Jon did a good job for them today. You have to tip your hat.”
Curtis Granderson put the Bombers on the board in the fourth with a two-out home run to center, his 32nd blast of the season.
Pedro Ciriaco hit a one-out single to left in the fifth in continuing his remarkable success against the Yankees with a 4-for-4 day. Ciriaco, who is batting .517 (15-for29) against the Bombers this season, scored on Nick Punto’s RBI double to right, pushing Boston’s lead back to two runs.
The Yankees stranded runners in scoring position in the fifth and seventh against Lester, who has won two in a row for the first time since mid-May.
The Red Sox broke through for an insurance run in the ninth after Scott Podsednik singled to right and Ciriaco — who else? — doubled to left, putting runners at second and third with nobody out. Cody Eppley unleashed a wild pitch that scored Podsednik to make it 4-1, then Alfredo Aceves closed out his former teammates in the ninth.
“You think they’re going to try to trade for him?” Valentine joked when asked about Ciriaco. “He’s played well against the Yankees.”