Yanks hit four HRs in 9-4 win over Bosox

BOSTON -- Eight games into the season, it's gone about as expected for the Yankees. The rotation questions persist. Nothing wrong with the offense.

The Yankees continued swinging hot bats Saturday, bashing four home runs, including two by Russell Martin, in a 9-4 win at a somber Fenway Park that dropped the Red Sox to 1-7.

Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano also homered, part of a 13-hit attack that included three doubles. Eric Chavez, getting his first start of the year, had three hits, lining doubles off the Green Monster in his first two at-bats.

The offense more than made up for a poor outing by Ivan Nova and the bullpen pitched brilliantly, with David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain and Luis Ayala shutting out the Red Sox in the final 42/3 innings.

"Some days you're going to have to do that, and you want to feel that you've got enough firepower to do that,'' Joe Girardi said of outslugging the opposition. "It's not what you want to do on a daily basis, but I feel with our lineup, we can do that. We can put up some big numbers.''

The Yankees (5-3) received seven RBIs from the 7-8-9 hitters in the order -- four from Martin, two from Granderson and one from Chavez -- as the three went 6-for-12 with five extra-base hits and two walks.

Cano continued his torrid Fenway hitting, going 3-for-5 with a homer, double and single. He is 15-for-30 with two homers and seven RBIs in his last seven games here, raising his lifetime average here to .367, the highest by any Yankee with a minimum of 200 at-bats, according to Elias.

"This year's going great,'' Nick Swisher said. "We feel good. That confidence, you can just see that swagger we have this year. It's a good thing to have.''

But Nova never looked comfortable, walking two in the first inning and pitching in trouble during most of his 41/3 innings. He gave up four runs, seven hits and three walks as his ERA climbed to 6.10. Against the leadoff man in the second through fifth innings, he allowed three hits and hit a batter. "I couldn't command my fastball,'' he said. "If I can't command my fastball, it's not going to be a good day because that's my first pitch and the one I throw the most.''

The Yankees had a 5-1 lead trimmed to 5-4 in the fourth. With men on first and third and one out, Jacoby Ellsbury hit what appeared to be an inning-ending double-play ball to Derek Jeter, but after taking the relay, Cano couldn't get a grip on the ball and didn't throw to first. Dustin Pedroia doubled in two runs.

Granderson battled back from an 0-and-2 count and wrapped a full-count pitch around Pesky's Pole for a two-run homer off lefty Felix Doubront in the fifth for a 7-4 lead. Cano lined Alfredo Aceves' 0-and-2 pitch deep into the rightfield stands in the sixth. Martin, whose three-run shot on a hanging curve from Clay Buchholz (0-2) in the fourth made it 5-1, connected off Aceves in the seventh for a 9-4 lead. Both homers went into the Monster seats. "We kept adding on,'' Girardi said, "which was important in this game.''