Ciriaco Triple Leads Red Sox Over Yankees 8-6

Curtis Granderson misplayed Pedro Ciriaco's ninth-inning flyball into a go-ahead triple, and the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 8-6 Saturday night after Mark Teixeira had tied the score with a two-run homer off nemesis Vicente Padilla.

Down 6-1, the Yankees closed in the fifth on Jayson Nix's two-run homer off Jon Lester and Derek Jeter's RBI grounder.

After Teixeira's homer in the eighth, Rafael Soriano (2-1) walked Jacoby Ellsbury with one out in the ninth and Ciriaco hit a fly that could have been caught. Granderson broke in, then went back and turned the wrong way before the ball dropped to his right-field side as he fell. Dustin Pedroia followed with a sacrifice fly.

Andrew Miller (3-1) got one out for the win, just the second for Boston in eight games against the Yankees this year. Alfredo Aceves finished for his 22nd save in 26 chances.

Padilla and Teixeira have been going at each other in recent weeks. Padilla allowed a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez in the eighth, then threw a called third strike past Derek Jeter. Granderson hit two foul drives deep down the right-field line, the second missing a home run by about a foot, before striking out.

Padilla fell behind 2-0 in the count to Teixeira, then lobbed in a 51 mph curveball. Teixeira turned on the next pitch, sending it deep into the right-field bleachers. He stared at the ball as he took four short steps up the line, then went into his home run trot.

Teixeira hit a go-ahead, two-run triple off Padilla in the seventh inning at Fenway Park on July 6, sparking a weekend war of words. Padilla accused Teixeira of wronging Latino teammates when they played together on the Texas Rangers, and Teixeira said Padilla "didn't have a lot of friends in the game." Padilla responded Teixeira would "be better off playing a women's sport."

Boston manager Bobby Valentine caused a stir began the game when he said the Red Sox medical staff instructed him not to play Carl Crawford four days in a row, a mandate Valentine said he ignored earlier in the month after the left fielder came off the disabled list.

Following a rain delay of 2 hours, 4 minutes, the Red Sox had built their lead when Adrian Gonzalez hit an RBI double and scored on Will Middlebrook's two-run double in the first, then hit a three-run homer off CC Sabathia in the fifth.

Chris Stewart's first home run since September cut the gap to 3-1 in the third, but Gonzalez boosted the lead with two outs in the fifth when he lined a home run into the right-field bleachers. Gonzalez leads the majors in batting average with runners in scoring position at .418 (41 for 98).

New Yankees right fielder Ichiro Suzuki raced into the right-center gap to rob Gonzalez of an extra-base hit with a catch just in front of the warning track in the seventh.

Lester, who had been 0-3 with a 10.42 in his previous four starts, allowed four runs and four hits in six innings with six strikeouts. He fanned Robinson Cano in the sixth for his 1,000th strikeout.

Sabathia allowed a season-high six runs and eight hits in six innings. He retired 12 of 13 batters following Middlebrooks' double, then gave up Ciriaco's single and a walk on a close full-count pitch to Pedroia before Gonzalez's home run.