FAMILY AFFAIR: Mariano Rivera celebrates last night’s 4-2 victory over the Red Sox with his son Jafet after the game. (
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Panic may not have reached The Bronx after two losses to the Red Sox to open the season, but it wasn’t far away.
“It’s a pretty important game for us tonight,” Joe Girardi said before the Yankees hosted the Red Sox. “It’s not do-or-die for us, but it is important.”
And just like so many times before, the Yankees were able to rely on Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera in a 4-2 win over the Red Sox, to avoid an 0-3 start.
The two veterans, both north of 40, didn’t just get the Yankees their first win, they helped save a bullpen that had been taxed in the first two games after CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda lasted a combined
6 1/3 innings.
Pettitte didn’t give up a run until the seventh and Rivera, pitching for the first time since tearing the ACL in his right knee shagging fly balls in Kansas City on May 3, picked up the save — striking out Jackie Bradley, Jr. to end it.
“Our season wouldn’t be over if we lost this game, but you don’t want to get swept at home to start the season,” said Pettitte, who lasted eight innings on another cold night at Yankee Stadium. “You just want to get that win. We’ve got so many new guys and you just want guys to get comfortable.”
Having Pettitte and Rivera on the mound no doubt helps that process.
“It’s a lot of emotions there,” said Rivera, who walked Dustin Pedroia to start the ninth and surrendered a run on a Jonny Gomes’ double. “But at the same time, you have to control that. I have to be able to do that. We still have to finish the game.”
The duo made things easy for the patchwork offense, which had Robinson Cano hitting second for the first time since 2010.
Lyle Overbay singled in two runs in the second to give the Yankees their first lead since Game 5 of last year’s ALDS, driving in Eduardo Nunez and Travis Hafner. And Gardner snuck a ball just over the fence to lead off the third to make it 3-0.
Francisco Cervelli, who beat Shane Victorino to the plate in the first when Victorino tried to score from second on a wild pitch, added a homer in the seventh to make it 4-1.
The victory came after Girardi, still getting used to life without some of his best offensive players, made a few changes to his lineup.
The struggling Cano was bumped from third to second in what Girardi said was an effort to split up the team’s left-handed hitters and not a wake-up call to the offense.
“It’s way too early to do that,” Girardi said of a shakeup.
Still, the absence of the injured Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Derek Jeter — none of whom are going to be back on the field quickly — has already been felt.
While the Yankees have overcome slow starts before, there has rarely been as much uncertainty surrounding the team.
“I don’t think anyone wants it to go too far no matter who you have in the clubhouse,” Girardi said before the game of the sluggish start to the season. “You don’t want to get to where you dig yourself a hole.”
A throwback performance from Pettitte and Rivera prevented that from happening before the team left for a seven-game road trip starting today in Detroit.
“I expected this out of both of them,” Sabathia said. “They’re amazing, especially with all they’ve had to come back from in the last year or so. It was fun to watch.”
dan.martin@nypost.com