BOSTON, April 14 (UPI) -- More than seven months after falling one strike shy of pitching a perfect game at Fenway Park, Mike Mussina retired the first 16 batters he faced Sunday before allowing a hit and the New York Yankees posted a 6-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Mussina lost a perfect game when Carl Everett singled on an 0-2 pitch with two outs in the ninth inning last Sept. 2. He did not come nearly as close this time, but conjured up memories of that game, baffling the Red Sox hitters through the first five innings with his sharp breaking ball.
But with one out in the sixth, Doug Mirabelli, who was none for eight this season, lined a single down the left field line to end Mussina's bid for perfection.
Mussina sat for a while in the top of the seventh when the Yankees scored three runs to increase their lead to 5-0 and appeared to lose some of his stuff.
Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Mussina in the bottom of the inning after Nomar Garciaparra singled, and Yankees manager Joe Torre pulled Mussina after two-out singles by Shea Hillenbrand and Troy Nixon.
Mariano Rivera, who gave up a game-winning two-run homer to Hillenbrand in the eighth inning of Saturday's game, bounced back with 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief.
