A.J. Burnett outdueled Pedro Martinez while Mark
Teixeira and Hideki Matsui each homered for New York, as the Yankees pulled
even in the World Series with a 3-1 victory over the Phillies in Game 2.
Philadelphia used a superlative effort from Cliff Lee to take Wednesday's
opener, 6-1, at Yankee Stadium.
Burnett (1-0) countered with a gem of his own in his first career start in the
Fall Classic, surrendering just one run on four hits and two walks in seven
frames. The hard-throwing righty also struck out nine against the team that
roughed him up for five runs in a six-inning start back in May.
Jorge Posada added a pinch-hit RBI for the Yankees, and Mariano Rivera closed
it out with a six-out save, highlighted by an inning-ending double-play ball
off the bat of Chase Utley in the eighth.
Martinez (0-1), the longtime Yankees rival and lightning rod for media
attention, turned in a quality outing for Philadelphia, ending with a line
of three runs on six hits and two walks with eight punchouts in six-plus
innings.
Matt Stairs knocked in the lone run for defending champion Phillies, whose 1-
through-4 hitters went 1-for-13 with three walks and six strikeouts, four
coming from Ryan Howard.
Game 3 will take place on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park. Cole Hamels, last
year's World Series MVP, will take the mound for the Phillies, while the
Yankees will likely opt for postseason veteran Andy Pettitte.
The Phillies are attempting to become the first repeat World Series champion
from the National League since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76. In the process,
they are trying to win their third world championship, far fewer than the 26
World Series titles already in the Yankees' hardware case.
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