It isn’t a real New York Yankees – Boston Red Sox series without a little bit of controversy, as instant replays and reviews took center stage in the fourth game as well. Once again, the Yankees got the benefit of the doubt and eventually won 3-2 after a big hitting day from Carlos Beltran.

John Farrell found himself ejected from the game after the officials overturned a decision they made on the field, and later provided another rant about the replay system, claiming that the human factor is a huge problem in what should be a clear and cut case. The Yankees had runners at the corners and one player out in the 4th inning, holding a 3-1 lead. It seemed like Francisco Cervelli grounded into a double play, but Girardi challenged the call and the Yankees got the benefit of the doubt, scoring the run.

Farrell left the dugout to argue, but that isn’t allowed, and after pointing to his eyes found his way out of the game. The Red Sox scored in the sixth with a Mike Napoli home run to get closer to the Yankees, but couldn’t generate enough offense against a strong performance from Ivan Nova (2-1, 5.94 ERA) and the relieving crew, including a third save this season for Shawn Kelley, striking out two batters in the ninth. Nova allowed eight hits and two runs while striking out four in 7.1 innings.

The Red Sox actually took the lead first through Jonathan Herrera hitting a single, helping Ryan Roberts score. Carlos Beltran hit his third home run of the season a little bit later to tag along Brett Gardner with him for the two run homer, and then came Cervelli’s controversial grounder. Beltran finished with 3-for-4 and reached 8 RBIs this season, as the Yankees played without Derek Jeter for a second consecutive game. Beltran hit also a double and a single in the game.

Should the Red Sox be worried about their 5-8 start? History suggests they do. It is the fourth time in the last five seasons that the Red Sox have had a losing record through 12 games. In each of those previous three years – 2010, 2011, 2012 – the Red Sox failed to make the playoffs. The last time the Red Sox made the playoffs after having a losing record through 12 games was 1915, winning the World Series at the end of the season.

Felix Doubront started for the Red Sox, making his way through 6.2 innings before getting taken off for Chris Capuano. It was Doubront’s second loss of the season, allowing seven hits, three runs and three walks. The Yankees were awful with runners in scoring positions, going 0-for-10 and leaving 7 men on base. The Red Sox were extremely clinical with 2-for-3 in those situations, but couldn’t advance players past first base too much.

The Yankees claim the four-game series 3-1 to move above .500 once again despite their injury problems. Alfonso Soriano at DH continues to be hit or miss this season – it’s pretty much about home runs or nothing. In this game he was 0-for-4, dropping to a batting average of .222. Brian McCann isn’t exploding, but he’s doing better than in the first week, getting a hit and moving his batting average to .205.

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