Yankees 5, Red Sox 1: Hiroki Kuroda struck out eight in seven innings and Brian McCann went 4-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs as New York evened the series with visiting Boston at a game apiece.

Jacoby Ellsbury tripled, drove in a run and scored while Brett Gardner singled in a run among two hits for the Yankees, who moved within four games of the Detroit Tigers for the second American League wild card. Kuroda (10-8) allowed one run and four hits without walking a batter to win his third straight decision.

Brook Holt doubled in the lone run for the Red Sox, who dropped to 5-4 on their 10-game road trip. Rookie Anthony Ranaudo (3-1) was reached for three runs on six hits and a pair of walks while striking out one in 5 1/3 innings to suffer his first major-league loss.

McCann came up with a runner on in the second and gave his batterymate all the support he would need by blasting an 0-2 fastball into the second deck in right for a 2-0 lead. New York worked the bases loaded on a pair of singles and a walk in the fifth before Ellsbury’s sacrifice fly to left made it a three-run gap.

Kuroda hit Jemile Weeks with a pitch in the sixth and Holt followed with a long drive to left that got Gardner twisted around before dropping onto the warning track for an RBI double. Ellsbury tripled and scored on Gardner’s single in the seventh and McCann added an RBI single later in the frame as the Yankees put it away.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Yankees ran into an odd double play in the first inning when both Derek Jeter and Gardner were tagged out on a double steal attempt, Jeter after trying to round third and Gardner attempting to get back to second on the throw over with the outs being recorded 2-6-3-4-5-3. … Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia (concussion) sat out his fourth straight game but could return over the weekend. … New York OF Martin Prado (sore hamstring) sat out and is day-to-day.