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Jones powers Yankees past BoSox

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

"I saw pitches to hit and didn't miss," he said.

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.

"It's always good to score first and give our pitcher a chance to relax," said Jones.

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, ending his MLB-leading 18-game hitting streak.

"He got sick during the game. When he was coughing he got real dizzy and his eyes were watering. He's been on medication for a while," said Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine. "An 18-game hitting streak and he left it out there with one at-bat. He must have been pretty sick."

Rafael Soriano threw 31 pitches in the bottom of the ninth but escaped a jam, stranding runners at second and third.

The Yankees are 5-1 in the season series.

Jeter sparked New York's two-run first with a leadoff single, but he also dropped a pop-up in the bottom of the inning to let the Red Sox score.

Curtis Granderson also singled and Jeter scored on Mark Teixeira's double as the first three Yankee hitters all reached base. Granderson later came around on a fielder's choice to make it 2-0.

"It's tough to be behind, that's for sure," said Valentine. "We got better -- five runs, four runs, three runs, two runs. But we were looking for no runs in that first inning."

Pedro Ciriaco, who had four hits in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader after being called up the day before, stroked a one-out single in the first for Boston and stole second base. He scored when Cody Ross' pop-up behind second base hit the heel of Jeter's glove.

The Yankees went up 3-1 in the second after Jayson Nix hit a leadoff double, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Chris Stewart's sacrifice fly.

Jeter bobbled a grounder by Ciriaco in the third -- it was ruled a single, one of Ciriaco's three hits -- and David Ortiz followed with an RBI double off the Green Monster to get the Red Sox within a run.

"We gave them some extra outs," lamented Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who said Jeter was suffering from a cramp in his shoulder but would play in Tuesday's All-Star Game.

But the Yankees scored twice in the fifth, the first run coming after Teixeira singled off the Monster and Alex Rodriguez tripled.

Red Sox center field Ryan Sweeney remained on the ground for a few scary minutes after crashing head-first into the padded wall near the corner in right-center trying to track down Rodriguez's hit. Rodriguez later scored on Jones' single to make it 5-2 Yankees.

Jones blew the game open with his 11th homer of the season, a shot into the Green Monster seats off Scott Atchison that came after Nick Swisher doubled off the wall with one out.

Mike Aviles hit an RBI double off David Robertson in the eighth to score Jarrod Saltalamacchia for Boston's final run.

Game Notes

Cano is the defending derby champion...The Yankees went 4-3 on a seven-game road trip and will open the second half against the Angels on Friday to start a six-game homestand...The Red Sox will play three games at Tampa Bay starting Friday...Nova was 0-1 in his previous three starts. He also beat Boston on April 20 this year...The Yankees optioned pitcher Cory Wade to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre...The Red Sox assigned pitcher Mike MacDonald to Double- A Portland and optioned pitcher Clayton Mortensen and outfielder Ryan Kalish to Triple-A Pawtucket.