NEW YORK (AP) — David Ortiz hit his 450th homer, a colossal three-run drive, and Dustin Pedroia had three RBIs during his second consecutive three-hit game to lead the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees 8-5 Sunday night.
John Lackey (9-5) labored through five innings before four Red Sox relievers pitched shutout ball the rest of the way. Boston took two of three in the series to finish a 4-6 road trip and improve to 6-13 away from home this month.
Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran homered for the Yankees, who have dropped six of eight. Rookie right-hander Chase Whitley (3-2) struggled for the second straight start, allowing five runs and eight hits in four-plus innings, as six New York pitchers combined for eight walks.
Koji Uehara worked a perfect ninth for his 18th save in 19 attempts.
After averaging 2 hours, 45 minutes in the first two games of the series, the longtime rivals were back to their usual plodding ways in a game that took 3:38.
Pedroia made a diving play at second base to limit a Yankees rally, and center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. threw out Beltran at the plate to keep the score 8-5 in the sixth. It was Bradley’s ninth assist of the season.
Pedroia bounced a hit-and-run single through the right side in the third, and Ortiz was booed by the sellout crowd of 48,124 as he stepped to the plate. The slugger answered with a long drive well into the raised bleachers in right-center to make it 4-0.
Ortiz tossed his bat aside and took his time on a wide trot around the bases, saluting fans as he approached third base. The home run put him in sole possession of 37th place on the career list, two behind Adam Dunn and Red Sox Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.
Handed a comfortable cushion, Lackey grew frustrated and shook his head as Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter fouled off pitch after pitch in the third. They combined to see 21 pitches in consecutive at-bats, and Lackey screamed, cursed and gestured wildly when Jeter grounded an RBI single to right.
Perhaps worn down a bit, Lackey gave up solo homers to Teixeira and Beltran in the fourth, cutting it to 4-3.
But then Whitley and reliever Shawn Kelley threw 10 straight balls to begin the fifth, combining to walk the bases loaded with none out. Pedroia blooped a two-run single and later stayed in a rundown long enough for Daniel Nava to score from third.
Ichiro Suzuki tripled to spark a two-run rally in the bottom half. He scored on Gardner’s double.
Pedroia’s sacrifice fly made it 8-5 in the sixth.
There was no discernible carry-over from Mike Napoli’s excited exclamations Saturday, when Fox television microphones caught him calling Yankees rookie ace Masahiro Tanaka “an idiot” as the slugger high-fived teammates in the Red Sox dugout.
Napoli later said he meant no disrespect, adding he was “surprised” Tanaka threw him a fastball rather than his nasty splitter.
“I don’t make too much of it. It’s a heat-of-the-moment thing,” New York manager Joe Girardi said. “I’ve never had the sense that he’s a bad guy.”
Yankees reliever Dellin Betances threw high and tight to Napoli before striking him out in the seventh, but that was about it.
Napoli doubled to start the second and scored on a single by the slumping Stephen Drew, his second RBI in 57 at-bats this season.
Touted prospect Mookie Betts made his major league debut for Boston in right field. With his parents and fiancee in the stands, the 21-year-old Betts grounded into a double play his first time up but singled in the fourth for his first hit.
Jeter tossed the souvenir ball to a Red Sox bat boy, and Betts was promptly caught stealing.
NOTES: Rookie SS-3B Xander Bogaerts, in a 2-for-35 slump, was left out of the Red Sox lineup. Boston manager John Farrell said the team can see Bogaerts’ timing is off and he’s working on that in early hitting sessions and batting practice. “We’ve got to remain patient,” Farrell said. … Batting coach Greg Colbrunn plans to rejoin the Red Sox staff Monday at home. The 44-year-old Colbrunn was hospitalized June 4 in Cleveland because of bleeding between the brain and the thin tissues that cover it. … Red Sox RHP Jake Peavy (1-6, 4.93 ERA) starts Monday night at Fenway Park against Cubs RHP Jake Arrieta (4-1, 2.05). … Before this weekend, the last time the Yankees and Red Sox played consecutive games in 2:47 or less was April 2001.