Mediocre outing for Ivan Nova as Yankees fall to Red Sox | New York PostBOSTON -- Off the bat, Brian...

1. Mediocre outing for Ivan Nova as Yankees fall to Red Sox
Mediocre outing for Ivan Nova as Yankees fall to Red Sox | New York Post
BOSTON -- Off the bat, Brian McCann believed there was a slight chance he had tied the score in the
ninth inning. Standing in the Yankees' third base dugout and facing right-center field, manager Joe
Girardi had a similar thought seep into his head.
And then the ball started to drift toward Fenway Park's center field and the Yankees knew they were
beaten.
"If it went more to the right it had a chance,'' McCann said of the ball that died on the warning
track, buried in Mookie Betts' glove for the final out of a 5-3 loss to the Red Sox in front of a sold-out
Saturday night crowd of 38,047. "Once it went into the triangle out there I knew it wasn't going to
go. I needed it more to the right.''
When Betts gloved the ball, the Yankees' three-game winning streak had ended, but their three-
length lead over the second-place Orioles remained intact as the Birds were beaten by the Nationals.
The Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox all gained a game on the AL East-leading Yankees.
Though the Yankees were limited to three at-bats with runners in scoring position and not once until
the eighth inning, the loss demonstrated why many in the industry believe the Yankees will be
hunting for a top-of-the-rotation arm before the July 31 trade deadline.
Yes, the Yankees starters have been effective in the past
10 starts, but there are questions from top to bottom of
the rotation. Ivan Nova, Saturday's loser, is one of them.
"How I feel doesn't matter. We lost the game,'' said
Nova, who gave up four runs and eight hits in 6 ?/?
innings and is 1-3 in four starts. "I made one big
mistake, a fastball away and he put a good swing on it.''
"He" was Hanley Ramirez, who smoked a 1-0 pitch into
the Red Sox bullpen in right-center with David Ortiz on
first base in the fourth inning that gave the hosts a 3-1
lead. Nova had worked out of a jam in the second by
feeding Mike Napoli an inning-ending double play
grounder and allowed a run in the third, aided by
catcher John Ryan Murphy's throwing error.
Girardi opted to lift Nova and summon Adam Warren to
face Betts with Alejandro De Aza on first base, two outs
and the Red Sox leading 3-2 in the seventh.
Betts lofted a fly to deep right that went for a triple that
might have been caught by Chris Young, who awkwardly

2. twisted for the ball at the last second following a long
run.
"I came in a few steps to guard against the base hit,'' Young said. "He put pretty good wood on the
ball. It faded more than I thought.''
Warren walked Brock Holt and gave up an RBI infield single to Xander Bogaerts. With Ortiz due up,
Girardi called for lefty Chasen Shreve, who added to the anxiety by walking Ortiz to load the bases
for Ramirez, who whiffed.
Solo homers by Alex Rodriguez and Jacoby Ellsbury off Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez (5-2)
accounted for the Yankees' runs until the eighth, when Ellsbury scored from first on a two-out
double by Brett Gardner that cut the deficit to 5-3.
Young's one-out double off Koji Uehara in the ninth that banged off the Green Monster gave the
Yankees hope. But Chase Headley struck out and McCann picked the wrong part of New England's
living room to hit a fly ball.
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