Yankees 4, Red Sox 1: Hiroki Kuroda pitched eight strong innings to earn his second straight win and Ichiro Suzuki hit a pair of home runs as host New York took the rubber game from rival Boston.

Derek Jeter went 3-for-4 and scored a pair of runs and Curtis Granderson added an RBI double for the Yankees, who have won nine of 12 to maintain the best record in the American League at 72-49.

Kuroda (12-8), who pitched a two-hit shutout earlier in the week, was nearly as sharp Sunday, surrendering one run on four hits while striking out four and not walking a batter. The right-hander is one shy of matching his career-high total of 13 wins, set last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Rafael Soriano worked a scoreless ninth for his 31st save.

Suzuki, who was acquired last month from Seattle to help New York manufacture runs, now has three home runs 26 games into his Yankee tenure. He came up with two outs in the fourth and gave Kuroda a 3-0 cushion, turning on a 1-2 fastball from Josh Beckett (5-11) and pulling it into the second deck in right field for his sixth homer.

Suzuki took Beckett deep again in the sixth with another solo blast.

The Red Sox finally got on the board in the seventh, when Adrian Gonzalez connected for his 15th home run.

New York had jumped on Beckett for a run in the first on Granderson’s double and Jeter scored his second run in the third, scampering in from third on a wild pitch.

Beckett ended up charged with four runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out six. The right-hander has one win in his last 12 starts.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Red Sox LF Carl Crawford, who went 1-for-4, will reportedly undergo Tommy John surgery on his left elbow on Tuesday, ending his season. Other reports have a meeting scheduled for Monday, at which time a decision will be made on whether or not to do the surgery now. … Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira (wrist) sat out his third straight game but expects to start Monday when New York opens a three-game series at the Chicago White Sox. … Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia went 0-for-4 to snap his hitting streak at 13 games. … The Red Sox have Monday off before opening a seven-game homestand against the Los Angeles Angels.