Bronx, NY – Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate, and the New York Yankees received seven strong innings from Phil Hughes in a 6-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series.
Hughes (12-10) allowed four hits and four unearned runs to snap a two-start losing streak.
"I thought he really pitched tonight," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He threw more change-ups tonight than he's probably done in four or five starts combined. He threw them to right-handers, left-handers and that really kept them off balance."
Rafael Soriano retired the side in order in the ninth inning for his 30th save.
Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin and Derek Jeter also went deep for the AL East leaders, who won for the eighth time in 10 games. Jayson Nix knocked in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning.
Franklin Morales (3-4) was touched for six hits, including four homers, and five runs over 5 1/3 innings on a soggy night.
"I tried to throw my pitches. When you miss, that's going to happen," Morales said.
Dustin Pedroia, who turned 29 on Friday, smacked a three-run homer in the third inning to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead.
The Yankees nearly went ahead in the bottom of the same inning, but with a runner aboard right fielder Scott Podsednik reached up at the wall to take away an extra-base hit from Robinson Cano.
The Yankees came back with the tying run in the fifth, a two-out blast to left field from Jeter.
New York went ahead the following inning when the Red Sox removed Morales. Casey McGehee and Granderson singled to put runners at the corners. Clayton Mortensen fanned Russell Martin, but Nix gave the Yankees the lead by reaching out on an 0-2 pitch and lining a single to right field.
Swisher, who homered batting right-handed in the first inning, clubbed one to right-center with one out in the seventh.
Carl Crawford doubled in the top of the eighth, but David Robertson rebounded to retire the next two batters.
It started raining after the first out was recorded and intensified just after Granderson and Martin hit back-to-back homers to right field in the second inning.
Boston rallied with the help of an error on Hughes in the third inning. Mike Aviles singled, but Podesdnik hit what looked to be a tailor-made double play ball back to the mound.
Hughes threw the ball wildly to second and into the outfield. Pedro Ciriaco's fielder's choice created a 3-1 margin. Jacoby Ellsbury walked, and two batters later, Pedroia homered to left field.
Game Notes
It was the 19th multi-homer game of Swisher's career, including the 12th time from both sides of the plate ... The Red Sox have lost 10 of their last 14 contests with their division rival. At 16-15, the Red Sox are the only AL team with a winning record at the new Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009 ... Jeter has a 13-game hitting streak ... Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira sat out due to a sore left wrist, while Cano returned to a starting role after being limited to a pinch-hit role Thursday because of a stiff neck ... The Yankees lead the season series, 7-3 ... It was Jeter's 250th career homer.
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