BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox hit four straight homers to match a major league record and finished a satisfying sweep of the New York Yankees.
Mike Lowell hit one of Boston’s four consecutive home runs off rookie Chase Wright in the third inning, then connected for a go-ahead, three-run shot in the seventh that led Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox to a 7-6 victory last night.
Boston took three close games in a row from the Yankees, coming from behind in each one for the first sweep of its longtime rivals at Fenway Park since 1990. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia made a diving catch to preserve the lead in the eighth inning, and Jonathan Papelbon retired Alex Rodriguez on a game-ending grounder with a runner on.
Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Lowell and Jason Varitek connected in a span of 10 pitches to give Boston a 4-3 lead against Wright, who was making his second major league start.
Then, with the Yankees leading 5-4 in the seventh, Lowell hit a three-run homer off Scott Proctor (0-1) that just cleared the Green Monster in left field.
Papelbon pitched the ninth for his sixth save in six chances and second in two days. First-place Boston moved four games ahead of the third-place Yankees in the AL East.
Derek Jeter hit his first home run of the season for New York and Jason Giambi drove in three runs. But the Yankees’ bullpen failed again — even with starter Andy Pettitte making his second relief appearance of the year.
Matsuzaka (2-2) had his worst outing in four big league starts, allowing six runs in seven-plus innings. But he finally got some offensive support. In his previous two starts, the Red Sox totaled just one run.
The right-hander left the game after giving up a leadoff single in the eighth to Rodriguez, who has hit safely in all 17 games this season.
Rodriguez scored on a force play at second, but Pedroia made a backhand grab on a liner by pinch-hitter Josh Phelps, stranding Robinson Cano at third.
Lowell’s third homer of the season followed a single by Ramirez and a double by Drew, forcing Proctor out in the seventh after he failed to retire a batter.
The Red Sox batted .363 in the series against New York’s injury-depleted pitching staff.
The crowd of 36,905 was the second-largest at Fenway since World War II, though the Red Sox have added seating capacity annually the last several years. The attendance last June 10 against Texas was 36,920.
The third-inning outburst made the Red Sox the fifth team in major league history to hit four homers in a row. The Los Angeles Dodgers did it on Sept. 18 last season against San Diego. Drew hit the second of those four homers as well. It was the second homer of the season for all four Boston batters.
Wright became the second big league pitcher to allow four consecutive homers.
The other was Paul Foytack of the Los Angeles Angels on July 31, 1963, in the sixth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against Cleveland. One of those homers was hit by Tito Francona, the father of current Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who turned 48 Sunday.
Wright also tied a major league record for most homers allowed in an inning. He was the first pitcher to give up four since Randy Johnson of the Yankees on Aug. 21, 2005, against the Chicago White Sox.
Wright, who hadn’t pitched above Class-A before this season, was called up because starters Mike Mussina and Chien-Ming Wang are on the disabled list.
After Varitek’s homer, Wright struck out Wily Mo Pena to end the third.
But Colter Bean replaced Wright to start the fourth and pitched two scoreless innings.
Pettitte, who started and pitched 6 1-3 innings Friday night in the series opener, worked a scoreless sixth in his 10th career relief appearance.
Matsuzaka fell behind 3-0 on Giambi’s two-run double in the first and his RBI single in the third.
The Japanese star couldn’t hold the lead his sluggers provided, allowing a tying homer to Jeter leading off the fifth. Jeter extended his hitting streak to 13 games. The Yankees took a 5-4 lead in the sixth on singles by Cano and Doug Mientkiewicz and a double-play grounder by Melky Cabrera.