NEW YORK -- All season, the Red Sox have been waiting for Adrian Gonzalez and Jon Lester to perform as they have in the past.
On Saturday, it finally happened, and in the same game.
Lester allowed four runs over six innings and lost a chance to get his first win in more than a month when Vicente Padilla allowed a two-run game-tying homer to Mark Teixeira in the eighth.
But there were positive steps for Lester, especially following his worst outing ever in the majors, last Sunday against Toronto.
"I was getting the ball down and locating -- all the things I've been preaching all along,'' said Lester. "I made those adjustments and it carried through the whole game. I gave up (just) four hits.''
One of those hits was a two-run homer to Jayson Nix, which Lester discounted as "a fly ball to right that's a homer. It's kind of the nature of the beast here, playing at Yankee Stadium.''
When the Sox got him three runs in the top of the first, Lester responded by setting down the Yanks in order in the bottom and allowed just one hit -- a solo homer to catcher Chris Stewart -- through the first three innings.
Boston Red Sox
"Jon had what we needed,'' said Bobby Valentine. "That's what we were looking for. Before that (fifth) inning and after that inning, he was perfect. He just let it get away from him a little with (two) walks. But he kept the ball down in the zone, he mixed his pitches, he changed sides of the plate. He looked very good.''
Lester got considerable support from Gonzalez, who contributed a run-scoring double in the first and added a three-run homer in the the fifth for his third four-RBI game of the season.
Gonzalez has three homers in his last 12 games and all three of his four-RBI games have come since the All-Star break.
In going 3-for-5, Gonzalez improved his batting average with runners in scoring position to .418 (41-for-98), the best such average in the majors.
"I was able to get to a fastball (against CC Sabathia) in the first at-bat,'' said Gonzalez, "and hit the double. And the home run, I mean, it's a 320-foot popup that gets out. That's all Yankee Stadium. I'm just glad we were playing here and not at Fenway.''
After struggling against the Yankees last season, his first with the Red Sox, Gonzalez has had far more success against the Sox' rivals in 2012. He's hitting .394 (13-for-33) against the Yankees with six of his 13 hits going for extra bases (five doubles and a homer).
Then again, Gonzalez has been hitting against everybody of late. Since June 20, about five weeks ago, Gonzalez is hitting .369, hitting safely in 28 of his last 32 games.