Andy Pettitte and the Yankees capped a busy day with an encouraging victory over Boston.

Pettitte pitched seven vigorous innings, Hideki Matsui hit one of two homers off an ineffective Curt Schilling, and New York beat the Red Sox 8-3 last night.

Light-hitting Doug Mientkiewicz also connected and Derek Jeter passed Joe DiMaggio for fifth place on the franchise hits list to help the Yankees take two of three in the series and move within 9 1/2 games of AL East-leading Boston.

Matsui drove in three runs, while Jeter, Mientkiewicz and Johnny Damon had three hits apiece. New York roughed up Schilling (4–2) for 12 hits, the most he had allowed since yielding 13 on April 22, 2004, at Toronto.

Before the game, Yankees designated hitter Jason Giambi met with lawyers from the baseball commissioner’s office to discuss his recent comments about steroids — on the same day a report alleged he failed an amphetamines test within the last year.

New York manager Joe Torre said “we have no knowledge” of a positive test.

There also was news on oft-injured pitcher Carl Pavano, who is headed for reconstructive elbow surgery that will probably end his unproductive stint with the Yankees and make his contract a $40 million bust.

Even with everything going on around them, the Yankees looked sharp and focused on the field. Damon led off the first with a double and scored on Jeter’s single. Matsui followed with his fourth homer, a two-run shot that made it 3-0.

Jeter added another RBI single in the second, giving him 2,215 career hits to pass DiMaggio. Alex Rodriguez lined a leadoff double in the third and scored on Jorge Posada’s single. Mientkiewicz homered off the facade of the the right-field upper deck in the fourth for a 6–0 lead.

It was a rare outburst of run support for Pettitte (3–3), who took a shutout into the sixth before giving up Mike Lowell’s two-out RBI double. The left-hander allowed one run and eight hits with one walk, lowering his ERA to 2.66 and improving to 14–6 against Boston.

New York (21–24) improved to 3–6 against the Red Sox this year. One night after managing only four hits, the Yankees matched a season high with 16.

All three games in the series were decided by at least four runs.

Schilling gave up six runs — five earned — in six innings during his first loss in nine starts since opening day at Kansas City. He was 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in his previous four starts against the Yankees, lasting at least seven innings each time.

Jeter tripled leading off the seventh against Brendan Donnelly and scored his second run of the game on Matsui’s single.

Coco Crisp hit his first homer of the year in the eighth off Kyle Farnsworth, and Kevin Youkilis’ run-scoring single made it 7–3.

Mientkiewicz doubled with two outs in the eighth and scored on Damon’s single.

After allowing a leadoff double in the ninth, Mariano Rivera struck out the next three batters.