Red Sox Capture Win #1; Outhit Yankees in Home Opener

                                                                                                     Sports Illustrated

The game, which started with some Opening Day festivities, ended in festivities going on on Lansdowne street and the bars all around Fenway. The Red Sox, who started the season by losing their first 6 games, finally won game #1 against the Yankees. The Yankees sent Phil Hughes to the mound, while the Sox sent John Lackey. The game started off with a bang, when Robinson Cano hit a 2-run double in the top of the 1st to give the Yankees an early 2-0 lead. The Red Sox came back and answered with a solo shot from Dustin Pedroia to cut the deficit in half. After the Yankees extended the lead to 3-1 in the 2nd, the Red Sox had a huge bottom half of the inning, scoring five runs to take a 6-3 lead. Phil Hughes was relieved by Bartolo Colon at the start of the 3rd. Hughes's final line was 2 IP, 6 runs on 7 hits and he failed to strike out a batter. The Yankees scored one run in each inning from the 2nd to the 5th. Lackey was able to get the Red Sox 5 innings, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits with 2 strikeouts. With the score tied at 6-6 headed into the bottom of the 5th, the Red Sox were able to tack on another run on a clutch double from Jarrod Saltalamacchia. In the bottom of the 7th, JD Drew hit a 2-RBI single to give the Red Sox two insurance runs and a 9-6 lead. That lead stuck into the 9th, when Papelbon came in for the save. Paps, one of the team's biggest question marks coming into 2011, had a 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts, looking absolutely lights out. 

News and Notes

• The Red Sox bullpen looked great last night. Lackey got the team to a 6-6 tie after 5 innings, and the bullpen was able to pitch 4 shutout innings to get the win. Aceves, Jenks, Bard and Papelbon combined to throw 4 shutout innings, giving up just one hit and two walks. The Red Sox are going to need this production from their 'pen, especially from the last three. If they can continue to pitch like this, the Red Sox just need to win the first 6 innings. 

• After making some changes in the lineup, most notably moving Crawford to the leadoff spot and hitting Ellsbury eighth, the Red Sox offense finally had some life. Everyone got on base except for Crawford, who has said in the past he doesn't prefer hitting leadoff. Out of the 8 hole, Ellsbury went 1-4 with a run scored. The middle of their lineup did not disappoint, with everybody hitting 2-6 getting at least one run and one RBI, except for Kevin Youkilis. 

The Red Sox look to continue their winning ways on Saturday at Fenway Park. Clay Buchholz will be toeing the rubber for the Sox, while the Yankees will send Ian Nova to the bump. First pitch will be at 1:10 PM ET.