Yankees  20    Red Sox  11

New York Yankees (76-45) at Boston Red Sox (69-51), 7:10 p.m.

Sports Network | August 21, 2009

(Sports Network) - The Boston Red Sox will be trying to make the most of an opportunity to close the gap in the American League East race, while the New York Yankees hope to find some success at Fenway Park when the bitter divisional rivals start up a key three-game series this evening.

Boston enters this critical set trailing the first-place Yankees by 6 1/2 games in the AL East, a margin that swelled after New York swept a four-game series between the clubs in the Bronx from August 6-9.

The Yankees had lost all eight previous matchups with the Red Sox this season and nine straight in the series prior to that breakthrough. New York was swept in a pair of three-game showdowns at Fenway Park earlier in the year and will be carrying a seven-game losing streak in Beantown into tonight's opener.

Boston, which owns a slim one-game edge on Texas for the top spot in the AL Wild Card standings, will be returning home with a surge of momentum after winning three straight times in Toronto. In Thursday's finale, J.D. Drew belted a pair of home runs to help back eight outstanding innings from Jon Lester as the Red Sox rolled to an 8-1 triumph.

Drew finished 4-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored to lead Boston's offense, while Victor Martinez added a solo homer in the rout.

"He's a guy that when he gets hot can carry a team," Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay said of Drew. "He did basically all we needed tonight by himself."

Lester was terrific as well, limiting the Blue Jays to a run and just three hits while striking out five in a 105-pitch effort.

Boston's cause to gain ground on the Yankees would be aided if Brad Penny is able to duplicate the performance he delivered in his latest clash with New York. That came at Fenway Park on June 11, with the veteran right-hander firing six shutout innings in which he yielded six hits and walked just one. Penny wound up with a no-decision in that game, but the Red Sox eventually rallied late to post a 4-3 victory.

Penny's more recent efforts haven't been nearly as sharp. The two-time All- Star is 0-3 with a suspect 7.54 earned run average over his past four starts and has dropped five of six decisions since a 6-2 start to the year. In his last outing, Penny was reached for four runs on eight hits and walked four over 5 2/3 innings in a loss at Texas this past Saturday.

The 31-year-old, who's 5-2 in 12 Fenway starts this year, won his only other regular-season matchup with the Yankees and also defeated the Bronx Bombers twice in the 2003 World Series while a member of the Florida Marlins.

Penny's counterpart in the opener, Andy Pettitte, has an impressive track record of success against the Red Sox as well. The longtime Yankee sports a 16-9 mark with a 3.63 ERA over 34 regular-season tests with Boston, 32 of which have been starts.

The 37-year-old has also been pitching extremely well in the season's second half, as Pettitte has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last four starts. One of those came against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, where the lefty tossed seven scoreless innings on August 9 despite not getting a decision in New York's 5-2 win.

Pettitte followed up that strong showing by striking out a season-best 10 Seattle hitters through six frames on August 14. He held the Mariners to just a pair of runs, but again did not factor in the final outcome of a New York victory.

For the season, Pettitte is 9-6 with a 4.09 ERA in 24 overall starts and 5-2 with a 3.17 ERA in 11 visits to opposing parks.

The Yankees will be playing the final leg of a 10-game road trip and have gone 5-2 thus far on the swing. After suffering a shutout loss in Monday's opener of a three-game series in Oakland, New York won the final two tilts and claimed Wednesday's rubber match by a 3-2 score.

Mark Teixeira drove in all three Yankee runs, with the All-Star first baseman recording an RBI groundout in the first inning and slamming a two-run homer in the fourth to give his team a 4-0 lead. He now has 89 RBI on the season, which trails only Minnesota's Justin Morneau for tops in the AL.

"If guys aren't getting on in front of me, I'm not getting the RBI's," said Teixeira afterward. "If guys aren't hitting behind me, I'm not going to get pitches to hit home runs. I love being part of this lineup, and when we're all swinging well, it's tough to stop us."

Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon each had two hits and scored a run for the Yankees, who are an impressive 14-3 since August 2.

Chad Gaudin, acquired in a trade with San Diego on August 6, gave up just one hit and struck out five over 4 1/3 scoreless innings in his first start with the Yankees.