Yankees defeat Red Sox 8-4

The Yankees scored early and often, while Andy Pettitte was solid, in their 8-4 victory of the Boston Red Sox Monday afternoon.

The Yankees scored four runs in the first off of Bartolo Colon, as Hideki Matsui hit a two-run double with the bases loaded and Robinson Cano hit a two-run single. The rally started when Derek Jeter singled and Bobby Abreu and Jorge Posada walked to load the bases. Colon would only retire two batters before being taken out.

They added three more in the second. After Jeter was hit by a pitch, Abreu hit a two-run home run off of Julian Tavarez. Jason Giambi doubled and Matsui eventually drove him home for his third RBI of the afternoon.

Pettitte went 3 1-3 innings, allowing three runs and three hits. He also struck out three batters and walked two. Pettitte gave up two runs in the third inning after Johnny Damon lost a ball in the sun. He allowed a leadoff home run in the fourth inning to Kevin Youkilis and induced a deep fly out off the bat of Mike Lowell before being removed.

Heath Phillips relieved Pettitte and gave up a run on three hits in 2-3 of an inning. The rest of the bullpen, Jonathan Albaladejo, Billy Traber, Brian Bruney and Scott Strickland, held the Red Sox scoreless over the final five innings.

Traber surrendered the only two hits over the span, but also struck out two batters in his 1 2-3 innings of work. He was recently placed on the 40-man roster and is the primed to be the lefty specialist come opening day.

The Yankees will travel to play Virginia Tech in Blackburg, Va. tomorrow afternoon. Jeff Karstens will get the start for New York. They will also bring every position player on the 40-man roster on the trip except Hideki Matsui. The game will be on YES at 3:00 p.m.