MLB

Nova pitches Yankees to win over Reds

CINCINNATI — If you had told the Yankees at the start of the season Ivan Nova would have seven wins before June melted into July, they would have been elated.

Sure, Nova was pitching in front of a muscular lineup and at the time the bullpen was supposed to be the best in baseball.

Well, the lineup still has thick biceps, but the bullpen picture is more along the lines of an MRI image.

Nevertheless, Nova is tied with A.J. Burnett for the second most wins among Yankees hurlers after he smothered the Reds, 5-3, at Great American Ball Park last night in front of 41,173.

Far too often this season Nova (7-4) has leaned on his fastball and curveball and ignored his slider and change-up. Preparing to face a lineup that makes good use of the cozy confines of its home park, Nova promised himself the change-up was going to be an important tool.

BOX SCORE

Three batters into the Reds’ half of the first inning, with the Yankees already up 4-0, catcher Russell Martin and Nova decided the time had arrived to throw the left-handed hitting Joey Votto the change-up with runners at the corners and no outs.

“We wanted to mix the change-up in, especially against lefties,” Martin said.

Votto rolled over on the change-up and bounced into a 4-6-3 double play that drove in Drew Stubbs, but changed the game.

From there, Nova cruised. In a career-high eight innings, he allowed a run, four hits, didn’t issue a walk and struck out a season-high seven to win for his third straight start.

“He looked poised,” Martin said of the 24-year-old Nova, who threw 70 of his 105 pitches for strikes. “Even though he battled in the first, after that it was a piece of cake.”

Votto, in that first inning, was the last batter Nova faced with a runner in scoring position. Sixteen of the 24 outs he got were recorded on ground balls.

The Yankees’ third straight win kept them 1 1/2 games behind the AL East-leading Red Sox.

Travis Wood, a lefty who was supposed to start tonight, but was pushed up because Reds ace Johnny Cueto had a stiff neck, was punished for four runs in the first when Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Martin and Andruw Jones had RBIs.

After the uprising, the Yankees didn’t score again until the eighth, when they plated their fifth run without a hit.

With Nova at 105 pitches after eight innings, manager Joe Girardi opted to remove him from the game. That puzzled Nova.

“Why are you taking me out?” Nova said was his thought when Girardi called for Luis Ayala to start the ninth.

Ayala gave up a leadoff single to Brandon Phillips and lefty Boone Logan was brought in to face Votto, who was followed by fellow lefty swinger Jay Bruce. However, Logan’s first pitch hit Votto, and with a save situation in play, Girardi called for Mariano Rivera.

Two grounders that didn’t leave the infield delivered two runs before Rivera notched his 18th save by fanning Edgar Renteria.

“We got the lead and [Nova] knew what to do with it,” Girardi said. “This kid has shown he can be very good.”

Can he be consistently as good as he was last night? That’s doubtful. The roadblocks that every young pitcher encounters are looming. Dead arm. Fried brain.

Yet, seven wins before July — even with the Yankees’ lineup — is about as good as could have been expected before Opening Day.

george.king@nypost.com