Yankees complete Red Sox sweep with big eighth inning

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Yankees completed a four-game sweep of their arch rivals the Boston Red Sox, scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 5-2 win on Sunday night.

Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back homers to key the eighth inning rally as the Yankees finished their first four-game home series sweep over the Sox in 24 years.

It was the sixth time the duo had hit consecutive homers this season, Teixeira's first with the Yankees after signing as a free agent in the off-season.

"After Johnny hit a fastball I thought I might see one too and got a good pitch to hit," Teixeira told reporters. "It hung up a little bit and I got a hold of it."

For New York, it was a seventh straight win while the Red Sox suffered a sixth straight loss, opening up a 6 game gap at the top of American League East.

Teixeira now leads the AL in homers with 29 and obviously likes the hitter friendly new Yankee Stadium.

"It's a great ball park for me obviously," Teixeira said. "It's been incredible playing here.

"The fans have been great and I've been hitting, but obviously the team winning is very important to me."

The game was scoreless until the seventh inning when Alex Rodriguez hammered his 21st homer of the season and 574th of his career, putting him in ninth place on the all-time list ahead of Harmon Killebrew.

Victor Martinez then hit a two-run homer off Phil Coke (4-3) in the top of the eighth, snapping Boston's 31-inning scoreless streak in the series.

However Damon and Teixeira hit their homers off Daniel Bard (0-1) in the bottom of the inning to put the Yankees in front for good, and Nick Swisher followed with a two-run single.

Andy Pettitte tossed seven shutout innings for the Yankees, allowing five hits, while Boston starter Jon Lester allowed only Rodriguez's homer before both starters left after seven innings.

Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth for his 32nd save allowing the Yankees to sweep and wrench back the initiative in the rivalry after dropping their first eight games to Boston earlier this season.