Nasty changeup

Demoted to the bullpen when he was on track to face the Sox yesterday, Igawa surfaced just two batters into the game, after rookie starter Jeff Karstens took Julio Lugo's line drive off the knee on the game's first pitch and departed when Kevin Youkilis followed with another base hit. Karstens has a cracked fibula, Yankees manager Joe Torre said after the game.

In came Igawa and his 7.84 ERA to face Sox strongman David Ortiz. Reporters for the New York tabloids, anticipating another Bomber meltdown, had George Steinbrenner on speed dial.

But Igawa coaxed a double-play ground ball out of Ortiz, the first of two by Ortiz on the afternoon, and after walking Manny Ramírez, he struck out J.D. Drew with the bases loaded. Disaster averted.

"We were glad to get Karstens out of the game," said Youkilis, who was unaware of the severity of Karstens's injury. "We didn't think Igawa would come in and pitch great."

Igawa gave up just two hits until being lifted with two on and no out in the seventh, and the overworked Yankee bullpen did not self-immolate, which it had been doing with regularity.

Closer Mariano Rivera reclaimed some of his tattered dignity by earning the save in the ninth, his first of the season, though not without some anxiety.

Jason Varitek opened the ninth with a broken-bat single to right. Rivera, whose ERA had shot up to 12.15 after a hideous outing the night before, fielded Alex Cora's comebacker and forced Varitek at second. Then third baseman Alex Rodriguez made a tough play on Lugo's slow roller, barehanding the ball and throwing him out. Youkilis popped to second to end it.

"You guys were worried about Mariano Rivera?" Youkilis said sarcastically. "He throws a 94-mile-an-hour cutter. We hit him, he's throwing like crap. When we don't, he's great. The hitters never get any credit.

"He's still one of the best closers in the game. You guys can't count him out."

The Sox were unable to overcome the three runs the Yanks scored off Tim Wakefield on Jorge Posada's two-run home run in the fourth and Melky Cabrera's bloop ground-rule double in the sixth. In both instances, the hit scored runners who reached on walks.