Pearce For Three! Steve Pearce Reflects On His Monster Night Vs. Yankees

By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- Boston fans grew used to hearing "Pierce for three!" over the years, but Thursday night was a little different.

Instead of Paul Pierce knocking down triples for the Celtics, this time it was Steve Pearce mashing a trio of homers against the New York Yankees in a dominating 15-7 Red Sox victory at Fenway Park. By the time Pearce reached home plate following his third blast of the night, a solo shot in the sixth inning, the Fenway faithful were in a state of delirium. If the old ballyard had a roof, it would have blown off by the time Pearce got to second.

It was the first three-homer game of Pearce's 12-year career, a night that will likely go down as his finest as a pro ball player when his playing days are over.

"It's a night I'm never going to forget," Pearce told reporters after the victory. "To see the fans do that, it's a great feeling. A feeling I'll never forget, especially when you get home and see all your teammates there ready for you. To be able to celebrate with them is a great feeling."

Pearce's first dinger of night was a solo shot into the monster seats off Yankees starter CC Sabathia in the third inning that helped Boston chip away at an early 4-0 hole. That blast cut the Yankees' lead to 4-2, setting up his most dramatic swing of the night a few innings later. His second homer provided a seismic momentum shift in the tilt, a three-run shot in the fourth off reliever Jonathan Holder that soared over everything in left field and put the Red Sox on top 6-4. The bomb was part of an eight-run inning for Boston, possibly the team's most important inning of the season thus far.

Those two blasts would have made for a fine evening, but Pearce completed the hat trick in the sixth, sending a Luis Cessa offering off the lights over the Green Monster. Pearce is now just the third Boston player to go deep against the Yankees three times in a game, joining Kevin Millar (2004) and Mo Vaughn (1997) on a pretty special list.

"That's great company," Pearce said. "Glad I could join them and hopefully the win tonight will be a tone-setter and we'll try to keep the momentum tomorrow."

The 15-7 beatdown gives Boston a 6.5 game lead over the Yankees in the AL East standings.

Pearce was acquired from the Blue Jays just over a month ago, and has been swinging a great bat for the Sox ever since. In 53 at-bats for Boston, the righty is hitting .358 with four homers, five doubles and 12 RBIs. Dave Dombrowski brought him in as a right-handed bat to hit against lefties. On Thursday night, he showed everyone he can mash the crud out of a baseball no matter what side of the mound its coming from.

Read more
f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.