It was to be an epic battle between two pitching aces. C.C. Sabathia stood ready to defend his New York Yankees. “Big Game” Josh Beckett was the Boston Red Sox’s chosen gladiator.

However, offense again ruled the day. In the first inning, Derek Jeter led off the game with a line drive, homerun to right center. And for six more innings, Hideki Matsui (2), Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez launched four baggers into the muggy, Massachusetts night. New York’s overpowering 8-4 victory ended a bizarre, weekend slugfest with the Yankees winning two out of three games.

Sabathia became MLB’s first 15 game winner (15-7) with a hard-fought, 6 2/3 inning performance that included eight strikeouts and no walks. He gave up three earned runs and survived two, clumsy Cano errors.

Beckett (13-5) struggled for eight innings to get find his rhythm. It was the second lackluster performance in a row. Last week, he surrendered seven earned runs to the Toronto Blue Jays in a chaotic, road contest. Tonight, he became the first Red Sox pitcher to give up five homeruns in a game during the Boston/New York rivalry.

The Red Sox’s collected three doubles, but no homeruns. They also struggled with runners in scoring position like the Yankees did in Saturday night’s 12-1 loss. New York stranded 16 runners on base. In this game, they scored seven of eight runners in scoring position.

Altogether, the Yankees scored 29 runs during the weekend series. Boston knocked in 27.