NEW
YORK – CC Sabathia gave the Yankees a dominant performance that put
them in position for a four-game sweep of the Red Sox. Sabathia didn’t
allow a runner past second base while pitching into the eighth inning
and New York beat Boston 5-0 for its sixth consecutive win.

Derek
Jeter hit a two-run homer in the eighth for the Yankees, who extended
their AL East lead to a season-high 5 1/2 games. Robinson Cano finished
with three hits.

Jacoby Ellsbury lined a clean single to center
with two out in the sixth for Boston’s first hit off Sabathia (12-7),
who improved to 4-1 in his last five starts. The big left-hander got a
standing ovation from the sellout crowd, and promptly struck out Dustin
Pedroia to end the inning.

The Red Sox won their first eight
games against the rival Yankees this season but this trip to the Bronx
has been a disaster. The slumping lineup hasn’t produced a run in the
last 24 innings and is 3 for 33 with runners in scoring position for
the series. Their last extra-base hit was Casey Kotchman’s two-run
homer in the fourth inning of Thursday night’s 13-6 loss.

The Yankees blanked the Red Sox in consecutive home games in one season for the first time since 1963.

Boston’s
one bright spot was Clay Buchholz (1-2), who allowed two runs and six
hits over six solid innings. The right-hander bounced back after
allowing seven runs and nine hits in four-plus innings in his previous
start last Sunday at Baltimore.

Ramon Ramirez replaced him in
the seventh and was ejected after hitting Alex Rodriguez on the left
arm with one out. Ramirez threw a fastball up and in to Mark Teixeira
before Rodriguez came to the plate.

There also was some
testiness Thursday night when Mark Melancon threw a pitch over
Pedroia’s head before hitting him in the eighth inning.

Teixeira
hit an RBI single in the third and Jose Molina added a sacrifice fly in
the sixth for New York, which has won 30 of 40 overall to improve to a
major league-best 68-42. Nick Swisher also drove in a run with a
bases-loaded walk in the seventh.

Sabathia carried a perfect
game into the fifth, retiring the first 13 batters before David Ortiz
walked on a 3-2 pitch that was just inside. The Yankee Stadium crowd
groaned as the embattled Boston slugger jogged down to first.

Ortiz
went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts hours after he said he never knowingly
used steroids and that over-the-counter supplements and vitamins likely
caused him to land on a list of alleged drug users circulated by the
federal government. He is batting just .171 (6 for 35) with two homers
and six RBIs since the July 30 report that he was on the 2003 list.

Sabathia
didn’t seem fazed by his first baserunner, retiring Mike Lowell on a
flyout to center before J.D. Drew struck out to end the inning. He left
after striking out Kotchman in the eighth, waving his cap to
acknowledge the standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 48,796.

Sabathia
allowed two hits, walked two and struck out nine, throwing 123 pitches.
Phil Hughes got the last out of the eighth and David Robertson finished
the four-hitter. – courtesy the Associated Press

*With their 5-0 thumping of the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, the New York Yankees accomplished a few firsts:
1) First time since 2007 the Yankees have reached 26 games over .500. 2) Their lead in the A.L. East reaches a season-high 5.5 games.
3) First time since 2002 the Yankees have shutout Boston in consecutive games.