Chien-Ming Wang (3-0) was stellar in the Yankees' 4-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox Friday night, in the teams' first meeting of the young season.
Wang threw a complete game two-hitter, allowing only a solo home run that nicked the top of Bobby Abreu's glove in right field. He had a perfect game through 3 1-3 until Alex Rodriguez threw high to first base which allowed Dustin Pedroia to reach safely.
The Yankees gave Wang run support in the top of the fifth inning. Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada led off with consecutive walks. After a Jason Giambi strikeout, Jose Molina hit his first of two doubles, scoring Matsui.
The Red Sox's only run came in the bottom half of the fifth. Wang allowed two-straight deep fly balls before J.D. Drew hit one off of Abreu's glove. This broke up the no-hitter and the shut out, but Wang was not discouraged.
The Yankees were able to take the lead after Clay Buchholz left the game. Jason Giambi led off the top of the seventh with a solo home run to center field off of Mike Timlin (0-1). Molina then doubled again and reached third on an Alberto Gonzalez sacrifice bunt. He then scored on Melky Cabrera's sacrifice fly to right field to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
Wang received another insurance run in the ninth inning. Gonzalez doubled to lead off and was sacrificed to third. After a Robinson Cano ground out to third, Abreu beat out a ground ball to score Gonzalez.
Wang then recorded two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth before Coco Crisp bunted for a single. Pedroia then lined out to end the game to give the Yankees the victory.
This was Wang's fourth complete game of his career and has only allowed three earned runs over 22 innings this season.
The Yankees improve to 6-5 with the victory, while the Red Sox fall to 5-6. The two teams will meet on national television tomorrow afternoon. Mike Mussina will face Josh Beckett at 3:55 p.m. on FOX.
Notes: Wang threw 93 pitches for 61 strikes. ... Rodriguez, Matsui and Molina had two hits apiece. ... Molina's two doubles give him six on the season. ... Giambi's home run was his first of the season. ... Rodriguez's throwing error was his first of the season.
(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Friday, April 11, 2008
Game 11: Yankees win 4-1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Okay. Can everyone stop bitching about Wang now? People need to put Cleveland out of their minds. The guy is 3-0 already and if he keeps up the same pace he did last year after coming off the DL, this could easily be a 20 win season. Not to mention that the guy has the most wins in the majors over the last two years. It's about time that we accept that he will never be a "true" ace cause he will never hit the 200 strikeout mark, or even the 150 mark, in a season, and start realizing that we have one of the the top 10 starters in the league on our hands.
agreed, anonymous.
the ALDS was last year. This is 2008.
Post a Comment