By the fifth inning Joe Girardi was out of position players, Francisco Cervelli, who started at first base, was limping toward the disabled list with a right hamstring injury and Carlos Beltran was playing first base for the initial time as a big leaguer and praying the ball didn’t get hit to him.
Furthermore, the Yankees didn’t have a backup catcher and Red Sox manager John Farrell was ejected for arguing an overturned replay call that went against the visitors and accounted for a Yankees run.
Then in the sixth inning Yangervis Solarte got slapped in the groin by Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli’s glove and because there was nobody else to play, he had to stay in the game despite moving with a pronounced limp.
Derek Jeter (right quadriceps) and Brian Roberts (back) were not available so Girardi had to get creative.
Yet when the Yankees walked out of Yankee Stadium with a 3-2 victory over the defending world champions before 46,081, it came down to timely hitting, a double-play turning into a fielder’s choice that produced a run, a sensational catch by Ichiro Suzuki in the eighth inning at the wall in right-center and superb pitching from four Yankees hurlers.
“When I am in the outfield, I want the ball hit to me,’’ said Beltran, whose two-run homer off Felix Doubront in the third inning erased a 1-0 deficit. “Tonight I said, ‘Please, God, hit the ball someplace else.’ Thank God they didn’t hit it to me.’’
The victory enabled the Yankees to take three of four games from their AL East blood rivals after losing the second one.
Ivan Nova (2-1) bounced back from a brutal outing in his previous start to allow two runs, eight hits, didn’t issue a walk and fanned four. Three relievers blanked the Red Sox in the final 1 ²/₃ innings with David Phelps striking out pinch-hitter Mike Carp with the bases loaded to end the eighth.
When Carp missed the 83 mph breaking pitch, Phelps showed more emotion than any time in his brief career.
“It was one of the biggest situations I have pitched in the rivalry,’’ said Phelps, who fell behind Carp, 2-0. “It was a lot of fun.’’
Shawn Kelley worked a perfect ninth for his third save and sent the Yankees into Monday’s off day hoping some of the bumps, bruises, hamstrings and muscles heal in time for Tuesday’s tilt against the rancid Cubs.
In addition to losing Cervelli, who is likely headed to the DL, the Yankees held their breath when Brian McCann got hit on the right index finger by a pitch that glanced off A.J. Pierzynski in the eighth to load the bases.
McCann said he will have X-rays but said, “it’s fine.’’
Solarte said he will play Tuesday, but Roberts may not be ready while Girardi is confident Jeter, with three straight days off, will be in the lineup.
The Yankees scored a run in the fourth when the umpires reversed the call on the field after Cervelli appeared to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Farrell vehemently objected to the play being overruled and was immediately ejected by crew chief Bob Davidson.
“Any angle that we looked at, you couldn’t tell if the foot was on the bag behind Mike Napoli’s leg, so how this became conclusive is a hard pill to swallow and on the heels of yesterday, it’s hard to have any faith in the system,’’ said Farrell, whose club was on the wrong end of a replay decision Saturday.
As for Girardi’s options at first base after Cervelli left the game he had two: Ichiro and Beltran.
“If he said go to first I would have said, ‘I have a hurt leg,’ ” Ichiro said while laughing.
When Girardi told Beltran he was the choice the outfielder grabbed Cervelli’s glove.
“A lot of things go through my mind and I hoped they didn’t hit the ball to me,’’ Beltran said.