David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Varitek each slammed two-run homers to power the Boston Red Sox to a 9-5 victory over the visiting New York Yankees on Wednesday night.

Josh Beckett (12-5) rode the long-ball attack to win his third straight start and improve to 4-0 against New York this season. He struck out eight and was charged with five runs in seven innings.

Varitek also doubled in a run as Boston snapped the Yankees' three-game winning streak and opened a 1 1/2-game lead over New York atop the AL East.

Ortiz’s blast off Phil Hughes (4-7) was his 28th of the season and seventh during his 14-game hitting streak.

Ellsbury smacked the first opposite-field homer of his career (24th overall this season) to cap a three-run sixth and put the Red Sox ahead to stay 7-5.

Robinson Cano and Eric Chavez had RBI doubles in a four-run top of that frame to give the Yankees a short-lived 5-4 lead.

Hughes allowed six runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings to fall to 2-5 in his career against the Red Sox.