NEW YORK — Jacoby Ellsbury hit an RBI single off old roommate Clay Buchholz in his first game against the Red Sox, Michael Pineda won while pitching with some noticeable substance on his hand, and the New York Yankees beat Boston 4-1 Thursday night.

Brian McCann ended an 0-for-14 slide with a run-scoring single that put the Yankees ahead during a two-run fourth in the first of 19 games between the rivals this season.

Additional Photos

Boston Red Sox right fielder Daniel Nava shows the ball to the umpire after making a sliding catch on a third-inning fly-out hit by Yankees third baseman Yangervis Solarte.

New York Yankees’ Jacoby Ellsbury, right, hits a fifth-inning RBI-double in Thursday’s game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in New York. Photos by The Associated Press

Ellsbury walks off after he was put out trying to stretch a fifth-inning RBI-single into a double.

The Yankees’ Dean Anna, background left, runs the bases after hitting a fifth-inning solo home run off Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz.

Boston Red Sox’s Jackie Bradley Jr. is safe sliding into second base on a third-inning stolen base as Yankees third baseman Yangervis Solarte applies the tag but loses the ball.

Making just his third big league start, Dean Anna homered as New York made it 4-0 in the fifth.

After spending nine years in the Red Sox organization and winning World Series titles in 2007 and last year, Ellsbury left for a $153 million, seven-year contract with the Yankees. And his first game put him at the plate against Buchholz, his roommate at Lowell of the New York-Penn League in their first summer of professional ball.

Ellsbury grounded out in the first inning, reached on an error and scored the game’s first run in the fourth, singled sharply to left to drive in a run in the fifth, and grounded out in the eighth.

Pineda (1-1), making his first Yankee Stadium start 27 months after he was acquired from Seattle, took a two-hit shutout into the seventh and appeared completely recovered from the shoulder surgery that sidelined him for two years. Throwing at up to 95 mph, he allowed four hits in his first Yankees’ win, struck out seven and walked two.

Pineda pitched for the first four innings with a dark substance on the lower palm of his pitching hand, but it was gone by the fifth.

Daniel Nava led off the seventh with a home run into the second deck in right, and Xander Bogaerts’ single chased Pineda.

With David Robertson on the disabled list and Shawn Kelley and Adam Warren unavailable after pitching Wednesday, the Yankees scrambled their bullpen. Cesar Cabral and David Phelps retired Boston’s last nine batters — striking out five — and Phelps got seven outs for his first career save.

Buchholz (0-1) was sharper than in his opening start against Milwaukee, giving up four runs — two earned — and seven hits in six innings with six strikeouts and no walks.

Boston went 13-6 against New York last year, its most wins against the Yankees since 1973. While the Red Sox won their third title in 10 years, New York failed to make the playoffs for just the second time in 19 seasons.

Ellsbury reached leading off the fifth when Jonathan Herrera appeared to look up while fielding his grounder to third and allowed the ball to pop out of his glove for an error. With Herrera moved between second and first on a shift, Carlos Beltran singled between the third baseman and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, into right field.

McCann lined a single past Mike Napoli about 2 feet fair down the first-base line, driving in Ellsbury, and Alfonso Soriano hit a double-play grounder to shortstop that brought in a second run.

Anna opened spring training wearing No. 93 after six minor league seasons with San Diego, which traded him to New York in November, started at second base as Brian Roberts got his first day off.

Now wearing a more respectable No. 45, Anna homered to right on an 87 mph splitter, his first in the big leagues after hitting 40 in the minors.

NOTES: Derek Jeter went 2 for 4 with a double, raising his average to .290. … The Yankees employed an unusual shift with Grady Sizemore up: Jeter remained at shortstop and rookie Yangervis Solarte moved from third to the first-base side of second; Sizemore grounded out to Solarte in the third. … Red Sox CF Jackie Bradley Jr. sprinted into left-center to catch Beltran’s two-out drive in the fourth with Jeter on second. Nava sprinted in to make a sprawling grab on Solarte’s fly to right leading off the third. … CC Sabathia (1-1) is slated to face Jon Lester (0-2) on Friday.

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