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Red Sox batter Yankees in series opener

Sep 3, 2014 - 5:48 AM Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Xander Bogaerts had four hits, including one of three Boston home runs, and two RBI to lead the Red Sox to a 9-4 rout of the New York Yankees that opened a three-game series.

Mookie Betts and Yoenis Cespedes each finished 3-for-5 for Boston, with Betts clubbing a solo homer and Cespedes delivering an RBI double. Daniel Nava also homered, connecting on a three-run blast that helped stake Boston to a 6-0 lead after 2 1/2 innings and ultimately hand the Yankees a third straight loss and fifth in seven games.

"This season definitely has not been the way that we all wanted, we all expected it to be. But there's a lot of talent coming up and hopefully we can blend in together and have a good future," Bogaerts said.

This defeat was a costly one as well for the Yankees, who fell five games behind Detroit in the race for the AL's final Wild Card after the Tigers rallied to top Cleveland on Tuesday.

Joe Kelly (1-1) benefited from the early run support to notch his first victory since coming to Boston in the July 31 trade that sent John Lackey to St. Louis. The ex-Cardinal worked around four walks to allow three runs over 6 2/3 innings and struck out six.

Yankees starter Shane Greene (4-2), however, was shelled for six runs on six hits before departing with two out in the top of the third.

Martin Prado and Brian McCann both homered and collected two hits to pace New York offensively. Derek Jeter had an RBI single in the setback.

"These series are extremely important and it's not how you want to start off a homestand," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Greene's troubles began almost instantly, as Betts singled and David Ortiz drew a walk with one out in the top of the first inning before Cespedes drilled a double off the left-field wall to drive in the game's initial run. Mike Napoli then plated Ortiz with a sacrifice fly to give the Red Sox a quick 2-0 edge.

Boston's power display started two innings later. Nava followed a Cespedes single and a walk to Napoli with a blast into the bleachers in right to extend the lead to 5-0. Bogaerts hammered one into the Yankee bullpen two batters afterward for a six-run advantage.

Prado led off the bottom of the third with a solo homer to get New York on the board, but Betts answered with one of his own to begin the fourth.

The Yankees were able to close the gap while putting Kelly on the ropes in the fifth, scoring twice during the inning but squandering a chance for more.

Carlos Beltran and McCann reached on consecutive singles in front of Prado's liner off the wall, in which Beltran hesitated and only managed to take third and Prado ended up tagged out while hung up between first and second.

Kelly offset the baserunning gaffe by walking the next two hitters to force in a run, and Jeter beat out an infield hit later on to score McCann and cut the deficit to 7-3. Kelly left the bases loaded, however, by striking out Brett Gardner looking.

Napoli came through with another sac fly in the ninth, which brought in Cespedes after the slugger belted a triple to lead off the ninth. Nava then walked, took second on a passed ball and scored Boston's final run on Bogaerts' fourth hit of the night.

McCann reached the seats against Red Sox closer Koji Uehara in the bottom of the ninth to round out the scoring.

Game Notes

Betts and Bogaerts are the first pair of Red Sox rookies to homer at Yankee Stadium in the same game since Dick Gernert and Faye Throneberry did so on Aug. 9, 1952 ... Gardner was ejected by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for demonstratively arguing the called third strike that ended the fifth ... New York's Jacoby Ellsbury, named the AL's Player of the Week on Tuesday, had a seven-game hit streak snapped after an 0-for-5 night ... Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, his average dipping to .183.