The Boston Red Sox ended April on a high, thanks to another listless performance by the Yankees.

David Ortiz, Alex Cora, and Manny Ramirez homered, Julian Tavarez got his first win of the season and the Red Sox beat New York 7–4 yesterday, sending the Yankees to their eighth loss in nine games.

Boston is 5–1 against New York, and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is angry about his team’s slow start, possibly disappointed enough that manager Joe Torre’s job may be in jeopardy.

With both teams today, the Yankees (9–14) ended the month 6 1/2 games back of the AL East-leading Red Sox (16–8).

Tavarez (1–2) and four relievers held New York to seven hits, with Jonathan Papelbon pitching the ninth for his eighth save in eight chances.

New York’s only runs came on a three-run homer in the third by Doug Mientkiewicz, who is hitting .154, and a solo shot in the eighth by Derek Jeter that extended his hitting streak to 17 games. After hitting 14 homers in his first 18 games, Alex Rodriguez hit none in his final five of the month, leaving him tied with Albert Pujols for the April record.

Chien-Ming Wang (0–2), in his second start since recovering from a hamstring injury, failed to hold a 3–2 lead. He repeatedly left pitches up and allowed four runs and six hits in six innings.

Boston made it 5-3 in the seventh against Scott Proctor before Ramirez, hitting just .188 entering the game, hit a two-run homer to right off Sean Henn in the eighth. Ramirez became only the fifth player to hit 50 homers against the Yankees, joining Jimmie Foxx (70), Ted Williams (62), Hank Greenberg (53), and Carl Yastrzemski (52).

Ortiz’s first-inning homer went into the right-field upper deck, a no-doubt drive that set an early tone, and Coco Crisp’s leadoff triple in the third and Cora’s RBI grounder made it 2–0. Julio Lugo and Kevin Youkilis followed with singles, but when Ortiz hit a topper in front of the plate and catcher Jorge Posada threw to first, Lugo tried to score and was tagged out by Wang for a 2-3-1 double play.

Mientkiewicz, hitting just .140 with two RBIs, put the Yankees ahead 3-2 when he homered in the bottom half. Wang hit Crisp on the lower left leg with a pitch in the fifth, and Cora followed with his second homer of the season. Ortiz ended the inning when he grounded into Boston’s third double play.

When Mientkiewicz hit a roller to the right side in the bottom half, Tavarez raced to the bag and Mientkiewicz slid into him hard, prompting a short discussion.

Cora tripled high off the rightfield wall against Proctor in the seventh, above a leaping Bobby Abreu, and scored on Lugo’s sacrifice fly.

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METS 1, NATIONALS 0John Maine pitched seven sharp innings and Carlos Beltran homered for one of New York’s three hits yesterday, giving the Mets a 1-0 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Maine (4–0) struck out a careerhigh eight and allowed three hits in lowering his ERA to 1.35.

Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, and Billy Wagner finished the six-hitter. Schoeneweis got out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth by getting Ryan Church to ground out to first, and Wagner pitched the ninth for his fourth save in four chances.

Beltran’s fifth homer came off starter Jason Bergmann (0–2) with one out in the sixth on a highand-away 0–1 pitch.

That was the Mets’ first hit since the first batter of the afternoon, Jose Reyes, who was credited with an infield single when first baseman Dmitri Young couldn’t hold onto shortstop Felipe Lopez’s onehop throw from the hole.

Reyes then stole second and David Wright walked, bringing up Beltran with a chance to put New York ahead early. But the Mets’ no. 3 hitter — and leading RBI man — bunted the runners over. Bergmann then got out of the jam, because Moises Alou popped up to Lopez on the grass behind third base, and Shawn Green struck out looking at an off-speed offering.

The Mets never really got much of anything else going against Bergmann, still searching for his first major league win since September 15, 2005, despite a 2.79 ERA this year.

Bergmann lasted seven innings, striking out six and walking three, before being lifted for a pinch-hitter.

Maine departed for a pinch-hitter in the eighth, having allowed three hits and three walks. He hasn’t given up more than two earned runs in any of his five starts this season — all New York victories.

The right-hander seemed to keep the Nationals off balance all game. When he struck out Young to end the sixth, the batter tossed his bat and helmet nearly all the way over to the dugout.

Maine gave up singles to Ronnie Belliard (six hits the last two games) in the third and sixth innings, then Austin Kearns’ double leading off the seventh. Church followed Kearns by walking for the sixth time in two games, putting two on with none out.