THE STORY: The Boston Red Sox have crawled all the way up from the American League East basement to regain first place in the division. They’ve gone through their rivals to do so. Boston will try to improve to 7-1 against the New York Yankees on Wednesday night in the Bronx, where the Sox have yet to lose this season. That streak could very well continue after Mark Teixeira exited Tuesday’s 6-4 loss with a bruised right knee and is doubtful for Wednesday. The slugger had been New York’s hottest hitter, clocking seven home runs in his previous 10 games.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, NESN, YES Network
PITCHING MATCHUP: RH Tim Wakefield (2-1, 4.40) vs. RH A.J. Burnett (6-3, 3.86).
Wakefield fills in for Clay Buchholz, who had his scheduled start pushed back to Friday due to a sore back. The veteran knuckleballer allowed four earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts in six innings for a no-decision June 1 vs. the Chicago White Sox. He has, however, won his only road start of the season, going seven strong in a 6-3 win at Detroit late last month. Wakefield is making his 16th start in the Bronx but his first at new Yankee Stadium. He is 11-17 with a 4.90 ERA all-time against New York, which has been led by Robinson Cano’s .304 average and 12 RBIs off Wakefield. Nick Swisher, meanwhile, is just 3-for-15.
Burnett is coming off two straight starts in which he allowed just two earned runs. He’s regained confidence in a curveball that that was primarily responsible for his 3-0 start. That confidence comes in handy in a month in which he went 0-5 with an 11.35 ERA in 2010, ultimately derailing his season. The righthander has yet to face Boston his season but does own a 5-3 record with a 4.79 ERA in 15 starts. Dustin Pedroia is hitting .300 off him with 10 walks in 40 plate appearances and Carl Crawford is hitting .315 with one homer in 54 at-bats.
ABOUT THE RED SOX (34-26, -4.43 units, 28-25-7 O/U): Boston’s high-priced lineup has lived up to its hype in the last month, leading the majors with a .295 average and 155 runs. Adrian Gonzalez scored two of those in Tuesday’s win and recorded his league-leading 51st RBI. The surge can be credited as much to the big boppers as to contact hitters such as Jacoby Ellsbury. The Sox are 12 games above .500 since the centerfielder switched to the leadoff role April 22. The speedster leads the league with 19 stolen bases and 17 doubles since then.
ABOUT THE YANKEES (33-25, 0.20 units, 26-27-5 O/U ): New York’s 88 home runs still leads the majors by a comfortable margin of 16, but there’s no denying the bigger bats are coming back down to earth. Alex Rodriguez has just one home run in his last 14 games, while Robinson Cano has four long balls since tagging eight alone in April. The Yankees, though, are still quite capable of winning by manufacturing runs, they just need production across the whole lineup. That lineup could very well include Jorge Posada the rest of this series. The usual designated hitter went 3-for-3 filling in for Teixeira at first base Tuesday and picked up his first hits off a lefthander after going 0-for-27 to start the season.
TRENDS:
* Red Sox are 4-0 in the last four meetings in New York.
* Red Sox are 5-0 in the last five meetings.
* Under is 3-1-1 in the last five meetings in New York.
* Under is 3-1-1 in the last five meetings.
FINAL PITCH: Perhaps the Red Sox are getting a bit too cocky in enemy territory. “I didn’t really care for it.” Yankees manager Joe Girardi on David Ortiz’s bat flip after he launched a two-run homer Tuesday off youngster Hector Noesi
