NEW YORK — Pedro Ciriaco drove in the winning run with a bloop single in the 10th inning as visiting Boston edged New York, 3-2, to take the rubber match of a three-game set Sunday night.

New York right-hander David Robertson (1-4) walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia leading off the 10th and hit Will Middlebrooks on a disputed bunt attempt. The umpires ruled that Middlebrooks had not pulled the bat back, leaving him with a strike and an 0-2 count.

Middlebrooks grounded the next pitch into left for a single and Ryan Sweeney followed with a fielder's choice grounder, leaving runners at first and third. Ciriaco came up next and fought off a fastball, fisting it into right field for the RBI single.

Sweeney doubled in a pair and Alfredo Aceves (2-6) pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to earn the win in relief for the Red Sox, who pulled back to .500 (51-51) and notched their first back-to-back wins since July 18 and 19.

Boston broke through against Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda in the second inning. Kuroda put a pair of runners on in front of Sweeney, who got an 0-1 splitter and lined it to center field.

The Red Sox had several chances to break the game open but grounded into four double plays.

Russell Martin finally got the Yankees on the board in the bottom of the seventh, lining a 2-2 pitch into the second row in short right field for his 12th home run.

That was the only run allowed by Boston starter Felix Doubront, who ended up yielding four hits while striking out eight and walking five in 6 1/3 innings.

Andrew Miller, who came in for the final two outs of the seventh, stayed on for the eighth and got the first two outs easily before surrendering a double to Andruw Jones. The Red Sox brought on Aceves for the four-out save but Martin sent a single into center, scoring Jones with the tying run.

Boston manager Bobby Valentine was ejected in the 10th for arguing the call against Middlebrooks.

Rivalry heats up

Somewhere along the line, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry turned from deep-seeded animosity to mutual respect and mild disdain.

So, let's give thanks to Vicente Padilla and Mark Teixeira for spicing up the hatred.

Once teammates, now archenemies, it seemed perfectly fitting that Padilla faced Teixeira in the eighth inning of a two-run game Saturday night. And sure enough, the Red Sox reliever gave up a game-tying home run to the Yankees slugger in what would have been among the most demoralizing losses in a season filled with such defeats if not for Pedro Ciriaco's go-ahead RBI triple over bewildered center fielder Curtis Granderson's head in the ninth. With that, the Red Sox won, 8-6, turning the Padilla-Teixiera confrontation into a footnote, if only for one night.

But don't be fooled. This is a subplot that isn't going away.

The Boston Herald contributed to this report.