Carlos Beltran powered the New York Yankees offense with a two-run homer while starter Ivan Nova kept the Boston Red Sox bats in check for a 3-2 victory Sunday night at Yankees Stadium.
Beltran went 3-for-4 on the night and hit his third home run of the year in the third inning off of Red Sox starter Felix Doubront to help the Yankees (7-6) clinch the series victory over the Red Sox (5-8).
Nova (2-1, 5.94) put together his strongest outing of the year so far. He pitched 7 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits, striking out four while walking none.
After the Red Sox took the lead in the second on a Johnathan Herrera RBI single, the Yankees mounted a comeback in the third inning off of Doubront (1-2, 6.75). With Brett Gardner on first after a single to right, Beltran hit a 84 mph changeup to left for a home run (3), giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
The Yankees scored again in the fourth inning after having a replay challenge go their way. Initially, first base umpire Bob Davidson had ruled, with runners on the corners, that Francisco Cervelli had grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi challenged the call. Upon review, Davidson's call was reversed and Brian McCann was allowed to score from third, making it a 3-1 Yankees lead. Red Sox manager John Farrell came out to argue the reversal, which violates the replay rule, and was thrown out of the game.
On the play, Cervelli injured his right hamstring and was replaced as a runner Ichiro Suzuki. Beltran replaced Cervelli at first base defensively, a position he had never played before.
The Red Sox scored a run in the sixth inning when Mike Napoli homered (3) homered to left center field off of of Nova to pull the Red Sox within one run, 3-2. A two out rally in the eight inning was squashed by the Yankees when Matt Thornton struck out Mike Carp.
Shawn Kelley had a perfect ninth inning to earn his third save and give the Yankees the series win in this historic rivalry.