A-Rod’s Historic Home Run Leads Yankees Over Red Sox, 3-2
Of all the places for Alex Rodriguez to hit his 660th home run – the home run that ties him with the great Willie Mays for 4th on baseball’s all-time list – Fenway Park had to rank at or near the top.
It’s the ballpark where Rodriguez was once seemingly destined to play, before the MLB Players’ Union stepped in and squashed a potential franchise-altering trade in 2003. It’s the ballpark where Rodriguez once ate Jason Varitek’s catcher’s mitt in a brawl that embodied the peak of the sport’s greatest rivalry. It’s the ballpark where the home fans would be most distraught to witness a milestone of this magnitude for Rodriguez.
And yet, with the score deadlocked at two in the top of the eighth, Rodriguez came to the plate to pinch hit against Junichi Tazawa. After three balls to start the at bat, Rodriguez roped a 3-0 pitch over the iconic Green Monster. The Yankees won 3-2.
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The Yankees are supposed to pay Rodriguez $6 million for the milestone home run, but GM Brian Cashman said they don’t intend to honor that clause in his contract.
C.C. Sabathia pitched six innings and held the Red Sox to two runs, and former Red Sox reliever Andrew Miller earned the save for the Yankees. Boston starter Justin Masterson was charged with two earned runs in six innings of work. Allen Craig hit his first home run of the season in the loss.
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