NEW YORK - If he does nothing else in his Red Sox career, Pedro Ciriaco has already carved out a valuable niche: he's shown an ability to come up big against the New York Yankees.
Ciriaco blooped a single to right over a drawn-in infield in the top of the 10th inning, scoring Jarrod Saltalamacchia from third and giving the Red Sox a hard-fought 3-2 win.
The journeyman infielder has six RBI in five games against the Yankees this season. The win was Boston's second straight over the Yankees and in both, Ciriaco delivered the go-ahead run in the late innings.
Both Bobby Valentine and Josh Beckett were ejected earlier in the 10th, arguing with home plate umpire Brian O'Nara over a pitch that hit Will Middlebrooks in the hand as he was pulling back a bunt attempt. Middlebrooks stayed in the game and hit the next pitch to left field, advancing Saltalamacchia to second base.
Andruw Jones roped a two-out double to left off Andrew Miller in the eighth, bringing Alfredo Aceves into the game to face Russell Martin.
After a wild pitch moved Jones into scoring position, Martin singled to center, tying the game at 2-2.
The Sox had plenty of opportunities throughout the game to pad their lead, but failed to do so. From the third inning through the ninth, the Sox put the leadoff man on base five times, but couldn't push another run across.
Boston Red Sox
Felix Doubront, despite some occasional control issues, pitched masterfully, allowing just four hits and a run over 6 13 innings while striking out eight. The only run off him was a leadoff homer by Martin in the seventh, cutting the Red Sox' lead in half.
The Sox took a quick 2-0 lead in the second on Ryan Sweeney's double to left-scoring, scoring Adrian Gonzalez and Saltalamacchia. It was only the fourth extra-base hit for Sweeney since June 1 and represented his first multi-RBI game since April 13.