• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Yankees open three-game series with first-place Red Sox

May 21, 2007 - 2:21 PM Boston (30-13) at NY Yankees (19-23) 7:05 pm EDT

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- The New York Yankees narrowly avoided getting swept by the crosstown rival New York Mets. Now, they will face off with the archrival Boston Red Sox.

The struggling Yankees will look for back-to-back wins when they face off with the Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series Monday at Yankee Stadium.

On Sunday, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez all homered and rookie Tyler Clippard pitched six solid innings as the Yankees avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Mets with a 6-2 victory.

Entering the game as the second- and third-leading hitters in the major leagues, Posada and Jeter combined for three more hits and three RBI on Sunday. Both veterans extended their respective hitting streaks to 15 games.

New York secured just its third win in its last 10 games on Sunday, while Boston has won eight of 10 during that span.

In the process, the Yankees fell 10 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the American League East, the largest deficit at any point since manager Joe Torre took over the club in 1996.

New York will look to get back on track behind ace Chien-Ming Wang (2-3, 4.54 ERA), who yielded just one run and six hits in seven innings in an 8-1 win at the Chicago White Sox last Wednesday.

The righthander has won two of his three starts since opening the campaign with back-to-back losses.

Boston will counter with knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (4-4, 2.41), who allowed five runs and nine hits in seven innings in a 7-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers last Tuesday. The righthander picked up the loss after 14 scoreless innings over his two previous outings.

Contributing to their hot start, the Red Sox have won five of six games against the Yankees this season.