For Starters, Yankees Defeat Red Sox

BOSTON â€”  With an eerie similarity to last year’s postseason debacle, Pedro Martinez took a lead into the eighth inning before tiring and the New York Yankees rallied past the Boston Red Sox, 6-4, Friday night at Fenway Park to open a 5 1/2 -game lead in the East Division.

Grady Little was the Red Sox manager last fall when he left Martinez in during the eighth inning of Game 7 in the AL championship series. The Yankees overcame a 5-2 deficit to tie the score and earned a World Series berth when Aaron Boone homered in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Little was let go after the season and replaced by Terry Francona. But Francona, much as his predecessor did, sent Martinez (16-8) back out for the eighth even though he needed 101 pitches to get through the first seven innings.

The Boston fans let Francona hear about it, much as they had for his predecessor.

Hideki Matsui, leading off the eighth inning, homered on pitch No. 103 to make it 4-4, and Bernie Williams followed with a ground-rule double.

Martinez struck out Jorge Posada, who hit the game-tying double off the Red Sox ace in the playoffs, but Ruben Sierra singled home the go-ahead run and chased Martinez.

“If I run out there after two pitches ... it would make it look like I wasn’t making a very good decision before the inning,� Francona said. “We put a lot of thought into what we’re doing. I was disappointed it was a tie game instead of having a one-run lead, but two pitches into the inning he’s still, in my opinion, he’s OK.�

Matsui hit an RBI double in the ninth -- his third hit of the game.

Tom Gordon (8-4) pitched two innings and yielded a solo homer to Johnny Damon that gave Boston a 4-3 lead. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 51st save. He has blown four saves all season, two against the Red Sox.