The Bronx Stop: A Yankees Blog

Bryan Hoch/MLB.Com:

The 24 combined runs in last nights game were the most scored by the Yankees and Red Sox at Yankee Stadium since July 7, 1954, when New York defeated Boston, 17-9, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Here in the present day, the decisive point came in the bottom of the fifth inning, when 20 runs were scored in the first five frames alone. Trailing, 9-7, the Yankees took the lead with four runs off eventual losing pitcher Julian Tavarez, as Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano contributed RBI hits to tie the game and Melky Cabrera legged out a fielder's choice to give New York the lead.

Neither starter fared well. The Yankees jumped on Buchholz for three runs in the first inning, including Rodriguez's homer, which moved him past Willie McCovey and Ted Williams for 15th place on baseball's all-time list. The solo shot came back-to-back with Bobby Abreu, who clubbed a two-run homer. Buchholz threw 85 pitches in 3 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits before being dispatched to the showers.

Five days after Wang twirled a complete-game two-hitter at Boston, the right-hander wasn't able to replicate his success, allowing that many hits -- and two runs -- in the first two innings alone. Struggling with his command, Wang went just four-plus innings before he was lifted as part of a six-run fifth, tying a career high by allowing eight runs on nine hits.

All five batters Wang faced in the inning reached base, and four came around to score, with Ross Ohlendorf relieving Wang following J.D. Drew's two-run single. Notorious for his favorable home record, it was the first time in Wang's Major League career that he was unable to complete five innings at Yankee Stadium.

"I couldn't find the strike zone and the sinker was running," Wang said. "They don't swing at the first pitch."

"It's hard to get upset with a sinkerballer when he's below the zone, because that's where you want him," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "The last couple of innings, he got the ball up in the zone. Maybe he overadjusted a little bit, but these are two very good hitting teams, and these kind of things can happen."

Sean Casey drilled an RBI single to left-center off Ohlendorf to tie the game, and Dustin Pedroia ripped a two-run single -- his second hit of the inning -- past a diving Rodriguez to give Boston a two-run advantage that would not hold up.