Damon, Chamberlain Help Yanks Take Opener From Sox

Johnny Damon went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, and his seventh-inning home run broke a tie and sent the New York Yankees over his former team, the Boston Red Sox, 5-3, in the opener of a three-game set from Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte (12-7) yielded six hits and three runs over seven innings, fanning six and walking two. The crafty left-hander has won six games in the month of August. Jorge Posada added two hits and a run knocked in for the Yankees, who broke a two-game losing skid and moved within seven games of first-place Boston in the AL East. Derek Jeter added a hit, a run scored and an RBI, while Hideki Matsui also drove in a run. Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka (13-11), who came into the game 2-0 against New York this season, allowed six hits and five runs over 6 1/3 innings. He has not won in his last four starts, since an August 4 win at Seattle. "In the first inning, I thought he tried to limit the damage," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona of Matsuzaka. "He gave up two quick ones but we came back for him." Jason Varitek homered for the Red Sox, whose four-game win streak came to an end. David Ortiz drove in the other Boston run with a sacrifice fly, and Mike Lowell added two hits in defeat. Manny Ramirez collected two hits including a solo home run before leaving the game in the middle of the seventh with muscle spasms in his lower back. "His back tightened up a little bit," Francona said. "After he took the one swing you saw how he moved. Im not a big fan of losing him for a couple weeks, but we dont want to do something were not supposed to do." In the seventh, Andy Phillips led off with a single and advanced to second on Melky Cabreras sacrifice bunt. He scored when Damon followed with a two-run shot just inside the right-field foul pole and just over the wall to give the Yankees a 5-3 advantage. "I saw the ball barely get over the wall," Damon said. "I hit it pretty good, but the ball wasnt carrying. Everything happens for a reason. Down the stretch, I feel good about where were heading regardless of how we do in these next two games against the Red Sox." Joba Chamberlain came on in the eighth, and preserved the two-run lead by getting J.D. Drew to strike out with runners on first and second with two down. Mariano Rivera sent down the Sox in order in the ninth with two strikeouts to record his 21st save. New York picked up two runs in the first on Matsuis fielders choice RBI and Posadas double. Ramirez got one back with a solo shot in the second, and after Julio Lugo led off the third with a triple, Ortiz drove him in with a sac fly three batters later to tie the game, 2-2. Jeters two-out solo homer in the fifth put the Yanks up 3-2, and Varitek equalized in the seventh to re-knot the score. Game Notes Boston has won seven of the 13 meetings this season, but New York has taken four of the last five...Pettitte is 2-1 against the Sox in 2007...Ramirez has hit 20-or-more home runs in 13 consecutive seasons...Jeter tied Tino Martinez for 13th on the all-time list for Yankee home runs with 192...Sox outfielder Bobby Kielty also left the game prior to the top of the eighth with lower back soreness...Attendance was 55,037.