Jones powers Yankees past BoSox

12:23 AM, Jul 9, 2012   |    comments
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Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Heading into the All-Star break, Andruw Jones looks a lot like the Yankees' premier power hitter.

It only took him two days to go from seven home runs to 11.

Jones belted his fourth homer in three games on Sunday -- less than 24 hours before teammate Robinson Cano will captain the American League Home Run Derby team -- and the Yankees beat the Red Sox 7-3.

New York won three of the four games in the series against their bitter rivals and head into the break with a seven-game lead over Baltimore for first place in the AL East.

The Red Sox, who split a doubleheader on Saturday even though Jones had three homers in the two games, lost six of their last seven games to fall 9 1/2 back of the Yankees.

Jones hit a two-run blast in the seventh inning that made it 7-2. He missed a fifth homer in the series by several feet outside the left field pole in the ninth.

The Yankees scored two more first inning runs to give them 14 for the series and banged out 14 hits to back Ivan Nova, who snapped a three-start winless streak.

Nova (10-3) struck out 10 batters in six innings, allowing two runs -- one earned -- on six hits and two walks for his first victory since June 17 at Washington.

Derek Jeter went 3-for-5 with a couple hiccups in the field.

Red Sox starter Jon Lester (5-6) didn't make it out of the fifth inning. He gave up five runs -- four earned -- on nine hits and two walks in 4 1/3 frames with six strikeouts.

Boston first baseman Adrian Gonzalez left the game with flu-like symptoms after the second inning. He struck out in the first inning, ending his MLB- leading 18-game hitting streak.

The Sports Network