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Red Sox hammer Yankees for 1st win of season

Apr 9, 2011 - 3:35 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Dustin Pedroia had three hits and three RBI, including a solo homer, and the Boston Red Sox got their first win of the season despite another shaky start by John Lackey, beating the Yankees 9-6 in the 100th home opener at Fenway Park.

The nine runs scored by the Red Sox in the opener of this three-game series were more than half their combined total as they started the season 0-6. It was the club's longest season-opening drought since the 1945 started a franchise-worst 0-8.

"I've never seen a team so happy to be 1-6," said Boston manager Terry Francona.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia delivered a the go-ahead RBI double in the fifth and the Yankees were held scoreless in the last four innings after getting at least one run in each of the first five.

Lackey (1-1) got the win despite giving up all six New York runs on seven hits in five innings. Alfredo Aceves, Bobby Jenks, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon finished the game, with Papelbon pitching the ninth for his first save.

Bartolo Colon (0-1) took the loss, giving up two runs (one earned) in 4 1/3 innings of relief. Yankees starter Phil Hughes lasted just two innings, allowing six runs.

"My arm strength was obviously something that wasn't there today," Hughes said. "I tried to make up for it by throwing cutters and anything really to get some outs. It seemed everything I threw up there was getting hit around."

Alex Rodriguez hit a solo homer, his third of the season, and scored three runs as New York dropped to 4-3.

Boston scored six times in the first two innings, then Colon (0-1) relieved Hughes and set the Red Sox down in order.

"That's a hard way to win," said Francona.

Lackey walked two batters in the first and Robinson Cano made it 2-0 Yankees with a two-out double to center. Pedroia homered over the Green Monster in left to get Boston on the board in the bottom of the inning.

Curtis Granderson doubled off the Monster in the second, and Brett Gardner one-hopped the wall for a double to make it 3-1 New York. But the Red Sox came back with five runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead.

The first three batters -- J.D. Drew, Saltalamacchia and Jacoby Ellsbury -- all reached on singles. Four of the five runs were plated on singles, too, with Pedroia's line drive to center field scoring two. Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz added RBI base hits to make it 6-3, but the inning ended when Kevin Youkilis was thrown out trying to reach third base.

The Yankees nonetheless chipped away. After Rodriguez was hit on the elbow by Lackey in the third, he moved to third on another Cano double and came home on a Nick Swisher groundout. Gardner tripled and scored on Derek Jeter's single in the fourth and Rodriguez deposited Lackey's 2-1 offering over the towering left-field wall to tie the game 6-6 in the fifth.

A walk and an error allowed Boston to take a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth on Saltalamacchia's double off Colon. The Red Sox tacked on two runs in the seventh inning on Drew's two-run single off Boone Logan.

Game Notes

The Red Sox have won their last seven home openers...Swisher's RBI was the 500th of his career...Rodriguez has 50 career home runs against the Red Sox, tops among all active players. He has hit more long balls against just three other clubs in his career: the Angels (67), Orioles (54) and Blue Jays (52). The homer pushed his career RBI total to 1,836, passing Rafael Palmeiro (1,835) and tying him with Ken Griffey, Jr. (1,936) for 13th place on the all- time RBI list...Manny Ramirez, who played for the Red Sox from 2001-08 and won two World Series with the team, told Major League Baseball that he is retiring. The league issued a statement Friday saying Ramirez was informed of an "issue" under the league's drug prevention program, presumably a second failed test. Ramirez's latest team, the Rays, said they were "surprised and disappointed" by the news...The Yankees are playing their first road series after winning two of three each against the Tigers and Twins to open the season.