BOSTON -- Ivan Nova struck out 10, Andruw Jones hit his fourth homer in three games and the surging New York Yankees went into the All-Star break with a 7-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night.
The Yankees took three of four at Fenway Park and boosted their record to a major league-best 52-33. They hold the biggest division lead in baseball at seven games over Baltimore.
Boston (43-43) dropped its sixth game in the last seven and fell into a last-place tie in the division with the Toronto Blue Jays, 9 1-2 games off the pace. Only three AL teams -- Minnesota, Kansas City and Seattle -- are below .500 at the break.
Nova (10-3) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings. Jones provided a cushion with a two-run homer in the seventh that gave New York a 7-2 lead.
Jon Lester (5-6), who won at least 15 games in each of the last four seasons, left with one out in the fifth after giving up five runs and nine hits. Until Sunday, the lefty had rebounded from early-season troubles and posted a 3.86 ERA in 13 starts.
The Yankees scored in the first inning in all four games in the series, taking a 2-0 lead in the finale. The first three batters all hit safely -- singles by Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson and an RBI double by Mark Teixeira. Granderson scored when Nick Swisher grounded into a forceout.
The Red Sox got an unearned run in the bottom of the inning when Jeter dropped a routine popup by Cody Ross with
New York made it 3-1 in the second on a double by Jayson Nix, a passed ball by Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a sacrifice fly by Chris Stewart. Boston came back again with a run in the third on Ciriaco's single and David Ortiz's double.
The Yankees drove Lester from the game in the fifth, scoring twice for a 5-2 lead. Teixeira started the rally with a single and scored on a triple by Alex Rodriguez. Jones then singled in Rodriguez.
Nova won five consecutive starts before going 0-1 in his next three. He would have gotten out of a first-inning jam had Jeter held on to the soft popup near second base. The righty even pumped his fist and started walking off the mound but stopped as the ball bounced out of Jeter's glove.
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