Yankees 3 Red Sox 1 BOSTON – El Beauty.
Coming off three putrid outings and spending Monday in New York having an MRI and a CAT-scan on his back, there was cause for concern that Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez was experiencing more than just a rocky stretch of road.
However, El Duque calmed many frayed Yankee nerves by limiting the Red Sox to two hits and one run across eight innings last night when the reeling World Champions needed it the most and beat the Red Sox 3-1 in front of 33,139 at Fenway Park.
And while the Yankees’ didn’t rock anybody with their bats, El Duque’s gem was backed up by Bernie Williams’ two-RBI night that included his fifth homer in the eighth and a clutch, two-out run-scoring single by Chad Curtis in the fifth.
The victory, only the Yankees’ second in nine games, enabled the 22-17 Bombers to avoid being swept in the three-game series and moved them to within one-half game of the first-place (23-17) Bosox in the AL East.
“If we don’t fight our way out of it, then we aren’t as good a club as I thought we were,” Torre said of the first elongated slide of the year. “We are going to hit, these guys have hit all their lives. They aren’t going to stop.”
Williams’ fifth homer of the year, a 418-foot shot to the center-field bleachers off lefty Rheal Cormier in the eighth, was his first in 57 at-bats.
Mariano Rivera, who hadn’t pitched since Sunday, recorded the final three outs for his 11th save in 12 chances.
El Duque, who didn’t give up a hit until Reggie Jefferson singled with one out in the fifth, had to be as sharp as he was because the Yankees’ bats didn’t do much against Mark Portugal, who fell to 3-2 after giving up two runs and three hits in six innings. The win, El Duque’s first since April 23, evened his record at 4-4.
In El Duque’s prior three starts, he was 0-3 with an ERA of 11.57. Most alarming was 20 hits in 14 innings as well as 10 walks.
He lost his shutout bid in the seventh when Nomar Garciaparra led off with a triple into the triangle in right-center field. Garciaparra scored easily on Troy O’Leary’s fly to center.
Entering the game in a 5-for-29 (.172) funk, it was clear Paul O’Neill wasn’t helping the Yankees with his bat. However, that didn’t keep O’Neill from using his legs to help produce a run in the sixth that upped the Yankees’ lead to 2-0.
Chuck Knoblauch, another slumping hitter, led off the frame by getting plunked with a pitch and moved to second on Derek Jeter’s single to left that hiked his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest by a Yankee this season.
O’Neill busting it out of the box after hitting a ground ball to Garciaparra allowed him to nip second baseman Jose Offerman’s pivot throw by a hair as Knoblauch went to third.
Williams’ fly ball to medium center field was deep enough because Damon Buford’s throw home resembled a lawn dart. The Yankees loaded the bases when Tino Martinez reached first after striking out when the pitch got away from catcher Jason Varitek and a walk to Chili Davis. Portugal stranded three by getting Jorge Posada to bounce to third.
Chad Curtis, a late replacement for Shane Spencer in left when Spencer’s stomach revolted late yesterday afternoon, gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead with a ground single to right in the fifth.
Martinez led off with a walk, moved to second on Davis’ grounder to the right side and advanced to third on Posada’s ground ball to first. At 3-2, Curtis took Portugal to right and produced the game’s first run. It was Curtis’ second hit in 18 at-bats.
Curtis almost gave back the run in the home half of the inning when he dropped Buford’s fly to left-center with Jefferson on first and one out.
Jefferson’s single to left was the first hit El Duque gave up. When Buford lofted a fly between Williams and Curtis that didn’t even reach the track, El Duque had to believe he had gotten the second out. But after calling Williams off with his glove, Curtis had the ball hit him in the leather and drop to the ground. Jefferson could only advance to second.
