Times wires
Friday, April 8, 2011
BOSTON — Six losses in the first six games were plenty for feisty Dustin Pedroia.
So the Red Sox spark plug hit a solo homer in the first inning, starting his team to a 9-6 win over the Yankees on Friday and ending Boston's longest season-opening losing streak since World War II.
"I just came in here thinking: 'We need to find a way to win. I don't care how we do it. I don't care if it's the ugliest win of all time. We need that win,' " Pedroia said.
Pedroia had three hits and three RBIs in the 100th home opener at Fenway Park.
Ex-Ray-turned-Sox outfielder Carl Crawford went 0-for-5 with a strikeout, but Boston had 12 hits after getting just 35 in its first six games.
"It seems like guys were calm, weren't jumping at the ball," Pedroia said. "This is our park. We were on the road six days and we didn't get comfortable."
Though John Lackey gave up six runs in five innings, he got the win when Jarrod Saltalamacchia's RBI double broke a 6-all tie in the fifth.
