BOSTON — Until the New York Yankees arrived for this series at Fenway Park, the Red Sox had generally proven Brian Cashman’s honest assessment of the rivalry in 2011.
Boston was the favorite, the Yankees’ general manager said. His club was the hunter.
September’s cool arrival finally coincided with the Yankees’ first series victory against the Red Sox this season – on a night when A.J. Burnett was manager Joe Girardi’s starting pitcher.
Russell Martin greeted reliever Josh Bard with a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh, and the Yankees held on for a 4-2 win on Thursday night before 38,074 fans, the 699th consecutive sellout at the 99-year-old ballpark.
To pull within a half-game of Boston (83-53) atop the AL East, the Yankees (82-53) made lefty Jon Lester depart after five innings and 115 pitches, while Burnett had his most encouraging start in weeks.
“You look at the last five games, we’ve played them much better,” Girardi said before the game. “The first nine, we didn’t play too good. We really didn’t. But the last five, we’ve played a lot better.
The Sox have still won 11 of the 15 games played against the Yanks this year, with one regular season series remaining – Sept. 23-25 at Yankee Stadium.
Burnett’s chances of being in the playoff rotation might still be slim, but his only blemish in 5 1/3 innings Thursday was a two-run homer to dead center by Dustin Pedroia that gave Boston a 2-1 lead in the fourth.
With runners at first and second, Boone Logan relieved Burnett and struck out Carl Crawford. Cory Wade (3-0) then entered to face Jed Lowrie, who was robbed of a likely two-run hit on a diving catch by center fielder and AL MVP candidate Curtis Granderson.
Making his big-league debut at designated hitter, slugging prospect Jesus Montero (0-for-3) extended a seventh-inning rally when he was brushed by an Alfredo Aceves fastball. The ex-Yankee right-hander had just walked Andruw Jones in a phenomenal 14-pitch at-bat.
Martin hadn’t played since Monday due to a sore left thumb. With pinch-runner Chris Dickerson and Montero in motion, Martin laced one to the right-center field alley and motored to third on the throw home.
Pinch-hitter Eric Chavez followed with an RBI single for a 4-2 lead.
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira (bruised right knee) was removed in the seventh inning and listed as day to day. He crumpled to the ground after being hit by an Aceves fastball in the sixth and temporarily remained in the game.
Burnett’s dreadful August was underscored by an 11.91 ERA in five starts – one of which was a victory at Kansas City. Opponents batted .415 against him during that stretch.
The hardly inspiring definition of a quality start is a maximum of three earned runs yielded in a minimum of six innings. Burnett still hasn’t met those requirements since June 29, a span of 11 starts.
In Burnett’s previous three starts, he’d yielded 19 earned runs over 12 1/3 innings (13.87) against teams with a combined .411 winning percentage.
If the Royals, Twins and Orioles could combine for that much damage against Burnett, what might the Red Sox do?
During his eight previous starts against the Red Sox as a Yankee, Burnett had an 0-4 record and an 8.71 ERA.
“It is at stake,” Burnett said earlier of his place in the rotation. But he wasn’t conceding anything.
“It’s not out of my hands,” Burnett said. “I can definitely take this opportunity to change some minds for sure.”
Girardi didn’t dissuade that opinion.
“A.J. needs to get back on track,” Girardi said. “August was a real struggle. Well, August is over now. You’ve got to put that behind you.”
BRIEF: Alex Rodriguez (sprained left thumb) might be ready to play Friday night after missing five straight games.
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