Victories in pitching duels have come far and few between for the Boston Red Sox this season, making every single occasion one worthy of celebration. 

Red Sox Nation can rejoice merrily heading into tomorrow, as knuckleballer Steven Wright (W, 5-4) shut down the formidable lineup of the New York Yankees to the tune of just four hits and one run over eight dominant innings, striking out nine batters to lead Boston to a 2-1 spoiling of the debut of Yankees pitching prospect Luis Severino (L, 0-1). 

Making his first major league start, Severino was solid over five innings, however a few mistakes cost him dearly. Finishing with a line of two runs allowed on two hits in five innings, striking out seven, the Dominican native gave New York fans all the reason to be optimistic about his future appearances. However, his showing was not enough to overcome the offensive woes of the Yankees. 

A night after scoring 13 runs against Boston, a victory which including a nine-run seventh inning, the New York bats were silenced for the first sixth innings, garnering just two hits while placing a paltry two runners in scoring position over their first 18 outs. Catcher John Ryan Murphy was the only Yankees batsman to record two hits, going 2-for-3 in a contest which included 0-for-4 performances from both center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury and third baseman Alex Rodriguez, two centerpieces at the beginning of the New York lineup. 

The Red Sox jumped out to an early advantage on Severino, plating a run in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. With two outs, first baseman Mike Napoli reached second on a costly throwing error by third baseman Chase Headley, coming around to score on right fielder Alejandro De Aza's ensuing RBI double. 

Boston then added another tally to their lead in the fourth inning, as designated hitter David Ortiz lead off the stanza by smashing his 21st home run of the season 441 feet deep into the right field bleachers off of a 2-0 fastball offering from Severino. 

This lead turned out to be all the Red Sox needed to capture the win over the first-place Yankees, as Wright proceeded to yield just a single run over his final five innings of work. This tally came in the bottom of the seventh inning, as right fielder Carlos Beltran lead off the stanza with his ninth home run of 2015, a 361-foot line drive over the right field fence on a 1-1 offering from Wright. 

Boston manager John Farrell allowed Wright to remain in the ballgame, however, and the decision certainly played dividends. The 30-year-old starter rendered the Yankees bats silent for the remainder of the seventh inning, and, after Murphy lead off the bottom of the eight with a single, Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts turned a double play almost single-handedly after an Ellsbury grounder kicked off the foot of Wright to help the knuckleballer escape a potential jam. 

Closer Koji Uehara then worked a scoreless ninth, albeit anxiety-inducing, for his 24th save of the season, decreasing New York's lead for first place in the AL East to 4.5 games over the second place Toronto Blue Jays.