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Youkilis, Lowell power Red Sox past Yankees

Jul 5, 2008 - 12:14 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Kevin Youkilis' triple actually stayed on top of the left field wall for a few seconds, while Mike Lowell's home run took little time to sail over the fence. Those hits added up to another win for the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees.

Lowell snapped a tie with a three-run homer in the top of the fifth inning as the Red Sox defeated the Yankees, 6-4, on Friday afternoon.

Youkilis delivered a two-run triple in the third and Lowell tied a season high with four RBI for Boston, which has won the first two games of the weekend series following a season-high five-game losing streak that knocked the Red Sox out of first place in the American League East Division.

"We are going to worry about what we do each day," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "We try not to look behind at all during the season. The hardest thing to think in baseball is that whatever you have done the past 10 games really doesn't matter."

Josh Beckett (8-5) allowed three runs - all in the first - and four hits in six frames. He walked two, struck out four and threw 69 of his 102 pitches for strikes en route to his fourth consecutive win over the the Yankees.

Boston beat New York for the fifth time in seven meetings this season by rallying from a 3-0 deficit with six runs off Darrell Rasner (4-7). It put runners on in every inning against Rasner but left the bases loaded in the first and hit into an inning-ending double play in the second.

The Red Sox finally broke through in the third, when Jacoby Ellsbury trotted home on Lowell's sacrifice fly and tied it on Youkilis' liner in the fourth.

With runners on first and second, Youkilis capped a seven-pitch at-bat with a drive toward Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon, who made a leaping attempt to catch it. The ball popped out of Damon's glove and landed on top of the wall before rolling back onto the field, allowing both runners to score and forge a 3-3 deadlock.

"I think it was bizarre that the ball just stayed on top of the wall like that," Lowell said. "I don't think I've even seen that. But he made a great bid for it and we were happy that he didn't catch it."

Damon suffered a left shoulder contusion, and an MRI also revealed a sprain in his left AC joint. After that, things got worse for the Yankees, especially in the fifth.

Ellsbury and Manny Ramirez singled ahead of Lowell, who put Boston ahead for good when he deposited a 2-1 offering into the seats in left field for his 13th home run. The blast came four innings after Lowell popped out with one out and the bases loaded.

"It was a pitch in and I kept my hands inside," Lowell said. "I didn't really crush it. I was kind of looking at the left fielder. It felt good when he turns in and it falls in (the seats)."

"I wanted to go both sides of the plate," Rasner said. "I wanted to take a shot and hopefully jam him. It just didn't work out."

Alex Rodriguez had a two-run double for the Yankees in their three-run first but also bounced into inning-ending groundouts in the fifth and seventh.

The Yankees lost for the fifth time in six games, and this one came less than 24 hours after manager Joe Girardi closed the clubhouse for 30 minutes to conduct a team meeting after Red Sox lefthander Jon Lester fired a five-hitter in Friday's 7-0 win.

Girardi had to be pleased when the Yankees struck for three runs in the first on Rodriguez's double and Jason Giambi's sacrifice fly. But after that, New York - which lost for the ninth time in 14 games following a seven-game winning streak - went quietly as Beckett retired 15 of the final 20 hitters he faced.

"It was one of those deals," Beckett said. "You get out there thinking you're throwing some pretty good pitches and you give up some runs early."

The Yankees have scored just seven runs in their last five defeats. They went 2-for-14 with runners on base and 2-for-9 with men in scoring position.

New York appeared as if it was going to stage a comeback in the seventh, when it loaded the bases with one out against lefthander Hideki Okajima. The rally was thwarted, however, as Bobby Abreu popped out to first and Manny Delcarmen retired Rodriguez on a groundout to third.

"When you don't score runs, that's usually what happens," Girardi said. "The thing about Beckett is, if you're going to get him, you usually got to get him early. We were able to get three runs and then he kind of settled in. He was tough, and then we had that opportunity in the seventh and we weren't able to cash in."