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BoSox Lead Yankees 4-0 After Four Innings

Posted on: Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 21:00 CDT

NEW YORK - Mark Bellhorn hit a three-run homer as the Boston Red Sox took a 4-0 lead over the New York Yankees after four innings of play in Game 6 of the AL championship series on a cold, blustery Tuesday evening in the Bronx.

Bellhorn's shot hit a fan as it went over the wall and then bounced back onto the field for what initially was called a double. The hit was ruled a homer after the umpires discussed the play.

Kevin Millar started the rally with a two-out double off Yankees starter Jon Lieber. He went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Jason Varitek's single up the middle. Orlando Cabrera followed with another single and Bellhorn cleared the bases.

Boston threatened in the second when Millar hit a one-out single off Lieber and Varitek caught New York napping with a bunt toward third base. Cabrera followed with a sharp single to left field to load the bases. But Lieber got Bellhorn to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Red Sox starter Curt Schilling, who last week appeared to have suffered a season-ending ankle tendon tear, put the Yankees down in order in the first. Derek Jeter flew out to right field for the first out. Alex Rodriguez lined out to Cabrera at shortstop after ducking a pitch near his head. Gary Sheffield popped to first for the third out.

Schilling was not wearing the rush-order $1,000 boot designed to protect his right ankle when Tuesday's game started. He will need surgery after the season for the injury, which ruined his start in the opening game when he allowed six runs in the first three innings of New York's 10-7 win.

Schilling was perfect through the first two innings but gave up a two-out double to Miguel Cairo in the third.

The Yankees threatened in the fourth. Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield opened the inning with consecutive singles. But Hideki Matsui popped out in foul territory for the first out and Bernie Williams grounded out on a play that forced Schilling to run to first to take the throw. Jorge Posada grounded out to end the inning.

Meanwhile, one of the big questions that New York and Boston face in Game 6, which started in a light mist with gusty winds and temperatures in the high 40s, is who can even pitch after Schilling and Lieber leave?

Think everyone was exhausted after Aaron Boone's 11th-inning homer won Game 7 for the Yankees over Boston last year? Both teams are dragging themselves to Yankee Stadium.

Early Tuesday, Ortiz lifted the 471st pitch of the night into center field for the winning hit, setting off another wild celebration, just as improbable as the one he started the night before.

Boston had rallied to beat the Yankees again, needing 14 innings in this one, a 5-4 victory that took 5 hours, 49 minutes, a postseason record.

Just 21 1/2 hours after Ortiz's 12th-inning homer off Paul Quantrill at 1:22 a.m. gave Boston a 6-4 victory in Game 4, the Boston slugger fouled off six pitches before singling to drive in the winning run off Esteban Loaiza.

This time, Boston was six outs from elimination before Ortiz's leadoff homer off Tom Gordon and Jason Varitek's sacrifice fly off Mariano Rivera tied it 4-4 in the eighth.

The next six innings were agonizingly tense, filled with a double play, three passed balls in the same inning, two Red Sox runners thrown out trying to steal second and 10 runners left on base.

When it was over, New York had stranded 18 runners and the Red Sox 12. The back-to-back marathons totaled 26 innings and 10 hours, 51 minutes.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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