Canadian Matt Stairs brings in the Phillies only run in World Series Game 2 Loss To the Yankees

Behind Burnett, Yanks even World Series

Matsui belts go-ahead homer to back righty’s strong outing

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

NEW YORK — With the Yankees needing him more than ever, A.J. Burnett rose to the occasion with his sharpest start of the postseason, unloading the full effect of his high-octane arsenal to help get the World Series back to even.

Outdueling Pedro Martinez in a classic performance, Burnett leaned on a pair of solo home runs from Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui as the Yankees defeated the Phillies on Thursday, 3-1, sending the Fall Classic on to Philadelphia with a fresh start.

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Burnett may have been disappointed in his debut season in pinstripes as a whole, a campaign that saw him go 13-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 33 starts with an $82.5 million deal in his pocket, but he made good by outpitching a familiar Yankees opponent on the game’s biggest stage.

With Martinez greeted by the ringing “Who’s your daddy?” chants that made Yankee Stadium sound like 2004, the veteran right-hander started off sharply, continuing his renaissance postseason and embracing an opportunity that had seemed unlikely at the end of last year.

Now wielding a reinvented array of offspeed pitches, Martinez — who on Wednesday referred to himself as possibly the most influential player in Yankee Stadium history — struck out Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon to open the game, quieting the jeers rippling through the sellout crowd of 50,181.

Philadelphia touched Burnett for a second-inning run that gave Martinez the early advantage, as Raul Ibanez lifted a pop-fly double that tagged the chalk of the left-field line, coming home when Matt Stairs drilled a run-scoring single under Alex Rodriguez’s glove at third base.

It wouldn’t last, as Burnett held the damage there, stifling the Phillies with his crisp array and throwing first-pitch strikes to the first 11 batters he faced.

Pumping his right fist after snapping a curveball past Ryan Howard to strand two runners aboard in the third inning, Burnett also had the benefit of a snap-throw pickoff by personal catcher Jose Molina in the fourth inning as he handled the Phillies with aplomb.

Martinez’s mastery was shattered in the fourth inning, as the long-slumbering Teixeira slugged his first career World Series home run over the fence in right-center, bouncing against the back wall of the Yankees’ bullpen.

Matsui then busted the one-run tie in the sixth by belting Martinez’s 97th pitch of the evening over the right-field fence, depositing a curveball about five rows over the wall for his second career World Series home run and creating a new wave of derogatory chants for Martinez from the reinvigorated crowd.

The go-ahead homer from Matsui seemed to provide Burnett with extra juice, as he came out for the seventh firing darts, seeming to feed off the energy as he recorded the final two of his nine strikeouts, leaving after seven innings having allowed four hits and two walks.

Meanwhile, Martinez sputtered at the end of his eight-strikeout outing, this improbable second World Series start near the conclusion of a magnificent career. Jerry Hairston Jr. opened the seventh with a single and Melky Cabrera followed suit.

Handing the ball off to Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, Martinez looked skyward from the infield grass and pointed his right index finger, appearing to savor the slow walk off the mound and looking into the three decks of the Stadium.

Chan Ho Park relieved to face Jorge Posada, and the pinch-hitting backstop ripped a fat offering into center field to send home pinch-runner Brett Gardner with New York’s third run, charged to Martinez.

The inning ended on a Damon double play that caused umpires to huddle between innings and drew Yankees manager Joe Girardi out of the dugout, debating if the ball had been trapped by Howard at first base.

Despite the ruling, which appeared to be a missed call based upon television replays, the Yankees were able to hold on to the two-run advantage by asking a six-out save from closer Mariano Rivera, who slammed the door to send the two clubs on the rails to Philadelphia.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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