The win was the Yankees’ third in 13 games against their AL East rival this season. Boston still leads the division by one-half game.
Sabathia (18-7) had been dominant against the rest of baseball this year, but 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA against the Red Sox. He threw a season-high 128 pitches, allowing two runs on 10 hits and two walks.
John Lackey (12-10) allowed five runs — four earned — on seven hits and four walks, striking out three.
Nick Swisher had three hits, Francisco Cervelli hit a solo homer in the fifth and Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 35th save for the Yankees.
In Arlington, Texas, Josh Hamilton hit a towering home run and Scott Feldman threw six scoreless innings in a spot start for AL West-leading Texas.
Hamilton hit the first pitch of the sixth inning thrown by rookie right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (11-10) deep into a second deck of seats in right field. It landed an estimated 449 feet from home plate, his 19th homer, and broke a scoreless tie.
Michael Young followed with a double and scored on a single by David Murphy .
In Detroit, Ramon Santiago homered in the bottom of the 10th inning, leaving Detroit starter Doug Fister with a no decision after he retired the first 18 batters he faced.
Santiago lifted Aaron Crow’s pitch over the right-field wall for only his fourth homer of the year. Joaquin Benoit (4-3) pitched two innings to get the win for the Tigers.
Crow (3-4) struck out Wilson Betemit with the bases loaded to end the ninth, and he got the first out of the 10th before allowing Santiago’s surprising homer.
In Seattle, Mike Trout, the youngest player in the majors at 20 years and 23 days, homered twice and drove in five runs to lead Los Angeles.
Trout started the onslaught in the second with a solo shot into the left-field bullpen on a 3-2 pitch from Anthony Vasquez (1-1). Vasquez walked the first two batters in the fourth before Trout added a three-run blast into the left-field seats for a 4-0 lead.
Jerome Williams (2-0) went seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits to get the win.
In Chicago, Alejandro De Aza drove in a career-high four runs for Chicago, including a three-run homer.
De Aza’s homer in the fourth inning erased an early deficit and helped the White Sox win their fifth straight game. He also walked and scored two runs.
Paul Konerko doubled, scored twice and had an RBI during Chicago’s five-run fifth.
Will Ohman (1-3) got the win and Sergio Santos earned his 28th save for Chicago. Starter Zach Stewart allowed six runs and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings.
In Cleveland, Carlos Santana and Jack Hannahan hit two-run homers to help Cleveland win its fourth in five games.
Jeanmar Gomez (1-2) allowed one unearned run over six innings after being recalled from Triple-A Columbus.
Santana connected for his 21st homer with one out in the sixth inning off Trevor Cahill (9-13) to put the Indians ahead 4-1. After Cahill hit Shelley Duncan with a pitch, Fautino De Los Santos came on and yielded Hannahan’s sixth homer to make it 6-1.
In Baltimore, Ryan Adams capped a two-run, 10th-inning rally with an RBI single for Baltimore, which has won seven of its last nine games.
Matt Wieters led off the Baltimore 10th by drawing a walk off Brian Tallet (0-2), who was trying for his first career save. Mark Reynolds walked and, after Robert Andino bunted a foul third strike, pinch hitter Jake Fox hit a game-tying single to right with Reynolds taking third.
Adams followed with a deep fly ball off the warning track beyond a drawn-in outfield.
