NEW YORK – No flashy theatrics this time. David Ortiz smacked another home run at Yankee Stadium and took an ordinary trot around the bases.
Apparently, beating up on the New York Yankees is becoming routine for the Red Sox.
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Ortiz hit one of three Boston homers to back a tireless Tim Wakefield and the Red Sox extended their domination of the Yankees this season, defeating New York 11-6 on Wednesday night to take over first place in the American League East.
Carl Crawford and J.D. Drew also homered, both in the ninth inning. Jacoby Ellsbury had three hits and Adrian Gonzalez added two RBI.
Facing his most familiar foe in Wakefield, Derek Jeter finished 1 for 5 to move within 11 hits of 3,000. He had a run-scoring double but also grounded into a rally-killing double play.
Alex Rodriguez homered but A.J. Burnett (6-4) came up small in a big game for the banged-up Yankees, who have lost seven of eight meetings with their longtime rivals this season, including all five at home.
The last time the Red Sox won their first five road games against the Yankees in a season was 1912, on the way to a World Series title.
“We play these guys so much. If you don’t play well they’re going to beat you,” Jeter said. “They’ve outplayed us. They have a good team. The bottom line is they can hit and they can pitch. They can do a little bit of everything.”
Boston goes for its second sweep at Yankee Stadium in a month tonight when right-hander Josh Beckett faces CC Sabathia in their latest marquee matchup. Beckett has beaten Sabathia and the Yankees twice in two spotless starts this season, striking out 19 over 14 shutout innings.
Boston scored three runs in the first for the second consecutive night, including a two-run shot by Ortiz.
Ortiz, who has four homers in his last eight games, hit a two-run drive in Tuesday’s victory and punctuated it with a cocky flip of his bat followed by a silky pirouette before starting toward first base.
Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said he “didn’t really care for it,” and Ortiz said it was simply “Papi style.”
That home run came one pitch after rookie Hector Noesi backed Ortiz off the plate, but the Yankees never brushed him back Wednesday.
Ortiz said he wasn’t concerned about New York throwing at him in retaliation.
“Why should I?” he said. “I don’t care about what Joe Girardi said. I come to play the game every day. That’s about it. I’m done with that.
“We cross that line, we take it like a man. That’s it.”
And there was a reason he played it cool when he connected Wednesday.
“I don’t want to be national news tomorrow,” Ortiz said. “I don’t want to have you guys asking me the same questions. I’ve got almost 370 (home runs) in the big leagues. Everybody wants to make a big deal because I bat-flip one of them.”
The Red Sox have won five straight overall after losing four in a row. Boston has 18 wins in 24 games, starting the surge with a three-game sweep in the Bronx from May 13-15.
Wakefield (3-1) was relieved in the sixth by ex-Yankee Alfredo Aceves, who went the rest of the way for his first save of the season.
Jeter was 1 for 3 against Wakefield, giving him 32 career hits off the 44-year-old knuckleballer, his most against any pitcher.
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