Granderson’s homer in 10th lifts Yankees

BOSTON — After getting his first taste of Yankees-Red Sox Sunday night, Curtis Granderson was impressed. “It’s all that it’s cracked up to be,” he said.

And that was after failing, as the potential tying run, to deliver against Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth. Granderson delivered last night. Leading off the 10th inning against Papelbon, Granderson drove an 0-and-1 pitch deep to rightfield to give the Yankees a 3-1 victory in front of 38,238 at Fenway Park. The Yankees took two of three and headed to Tampa for a three-game series that starts tomorrow night.

“Huge hit for him, huge hit for the club,” Joe Girardi said.

After the Yankees added an insurance run on Mark Teixeira’s groundout, Mariano Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 10th for his second consecutive save.

It was by far the best-pitched game of the series. Andy Pettitte consistently worked out of trouble, and one of the Yankees’ new relievers who did poorly Sunday had a night of redemption.

Chan Ho Park, who gave up a tying homer to Dustin Pedroia in the season-opening loss, replaced Pettitte in the seventh. Although the Red Sox hit three balls hard in the ninth, Park’s three scoreless innings helped set up Granderson’s big moment.

“Some days you’re going to fail, some days you’re going to have a hard time, but you have to bounce back like I did today,” Park said. “I feel good, I pitched three innings. It was awesome.”

An apt description of how his night started, setting down the first seven hitters he faced. Girardi said it was a crucial performance because he had a short bullpen, not wanting to use Joba Chamberlain three out of four days and preferring to stay away from Alfredo Aceves, who pitched two innings Tuesday.

“Chan Ho was great today,” Alex Rodriguez said. “He threw the ball very well. He threw four pitches, all for strikes. Great rhythm, great slide step. He can be a big asset for us.”

The Yankees signed Park, a free agent, at the start of training camp when his price dropped into their range, at $1.2 million. “That’s one of the things that made him so attractive to us,” Girardi said of Park, who was outstanding out of the bullpen last year for the Phillies. “He started in his career, he knows how to pitch, he has four pitches, he has different weapons to go to for different hitters. He holds runners, he does a lot of things right.”

Pettitte did that for the most part, overcoming a rough start to allow six hits and one run in six innings.

The game started in a way Girardi would not have preferred, with his 37-year-old pitcher stumbling awkwardly to the ground trying to cover first. Pettitte, though admittedly shaken up with a headache and a few scratches, recovered.

He came into the game 7-3 with a 3.90 ERA at Fenway and improved on that.

“I just love this place, I really do,” Pettitte said. “I think it’s a great ballpark for lefthanded pitchers. I’ve always felt like that and it’s just a good atmosphere. You know it’s going to be a tough game every time you come here. You know it’s going to be a battle, but the fans, like I’ve said 100 times, make it exciting. But I just love the ballpark.”