NEW YORK, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The New York Yankees held off a late rally Tuesday night to beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-7, in the opener of their American League Championship Series.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven set will be Wednesday with the Yankees' Jon Lieber opposing Boston's Pedro Martinez.
In Game 1, Hideki Matsui went 3-for-5 with five RBI and Mike Mussina pitched six scoreless innings before running into trouble in the seventh
These same two teams played in last year's ALCS with the Yankees winning in seven games.
Mussina carried a perfect game into the seventh and retired 19 straight batters. He gave up four runs on four hits over 6 2/3 innings while striking out eight.
Bernie Williams had three RBI and Kenny Lofton a solo homer for the Yankees, who advanced to the ALCS by beating Minnesota.
Mariano Rivera pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his first save of the postseason.
