MLB

Rays factor adds spice to Yankees-Red Sox rivalry

Phil Hughes knows what’s at stake tonight when he takes the mound against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. All the Yankees do. Yankees-Red Sox always is great theater, but this year it’s even more important because of how well the Rays are playing.

And coming off yesterday’s stunning 6-3 loss to the Twins at Yankee Stadium, where Mariano Rivera surrendered a grand slam in the eighth to Jason Kubel that silenced the Stadum crowd of 46,628, tonight’s game against the Red Sox just got that much more interesting.

The Yankees are fortunate that the fourth-place, 19-19 Red Sox’s front-office plan for success has gone awry. The Bombers trail the Rays by two games, and the Blue Jays are in third, four back.

YANKEES-TWINS BOX SCORE

With Tampa Bay in first place, everything changes. One of the Big Three will be left out in the cold in October. The Rays follow the Red Sox into town. It’s possible that one loss to the Red Sox could mean the difference in making the playoffs come season’s end.

Baseball can turn quickly as evidenced by the Great Rivera’s problems yesterday and manager Joe Girardi’s curious decision to bring him in for a four-out save with the Red Sox and Rays right around the corner.

In 2008, the Rays won the East, the Red Sox captured the wild card and the Yankees stayed home. The Rays are on fire again this season, the Yankees, who keep winning series, are only two steps behind, but the Red Sox are way back. It’s a race for two playoff spots within their own division and there is no guarantee the wild card will come out of the East.

Every game against Boston matters. The two teams do not meet again until Aug. 6.

“It’s really a tough division and these games are all important. We have to take the mentality of last year — win every day, nothing is going to be handed to us,” Hughes said. “That’s what it is going to take every day, that kind of mentality.”

Hughes said that makes it even more exciting to take the mound.

“Every game has that playoff sort of feel,” he said.

No Yankees pitcher has been better than Hughes, who will face Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-1, 6.35 ERA). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hughes, who is 5-0 with a 1.38 ERA, is the first Yankees pitcher with five wins and a sub 1.50 ERA through his first six starts since “Bullet” Bob Turley in 1958. Turley won the Cy Young that season.

“I know we have a good offense, I’m just trying to throw strikes,” Hughes said of his successful approach.

Yankees championship history was on display in the dugout before the game. Jeff Idelson, president of the baseball Hall of Fame, lined up seven Yankees World Championship rings from the current Cooperstown display. Alex Rodriguez came over to check out the rings from 1927, ’32, ’41, ’56, ’61, ’77 and ’99. The Yankees later presented Idelson with a 2009 ring for the Hall of Fame display.

Yankees-Red Sox series are part of the road map to the World Series. CC Sabathia will pitch tomorrow night against Josh Beckett, who was terrible in his last start against the Yankees and hit two Yankees with pitches on his way out the door.

“You always want to do well in your division, whether it’s the Rays or Red Sox or Orioles,” Sabathia said. “That’s the key to winning the division. You want to play those games well.”

When Rodriguez was asked about the upcoming week, he first asked, “Who do we play?”

You can be sure he knew.

“We knew this whole homestand was going to be challenging,” he said.

It got more challenging after yesterday when the Twins finally got that Pinstripe gorilla off their backs. With the Rays’ continuing success, there’s even more at stake vs. the Red Sox.

kevin.kernan@nypost.com