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BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- When Mike Mussina signed with the New York Yankees during the offseason and Manny Ramirez did the same with the Boston Red Sox, it was inevitable they eventually would have a classic confrontation.

Ramirez won an 12-pitch battle with the New York Yankees' righthander and singled to ignite a four-run fourth inning that propelled the Boston Red Sox to an 8-3 victory over their rivals.

Boston's prized free-agent acquisition this winter singled to left field leading off the fourth and Mussina, pitching in front of a sellout crowd of 55,483 at Yankee Stadium, quickly unraveled.

"I was trying to be patient. I was getting tired, then I got a good pitch to hit and the ball went through," Ramirez said. "Anytime you get a hit against that guy you should be proud."

"To me that set up the whole inning," said Boston manager Jimy Williams. "I don't know how many pitches it was, but from our standpoint that was a tough at-bat, fouling off all those pitches and getting on base."

Troy O'Leary followed with a single and Scott Hatteberg reached on shortstop Derek Jeter's error, loading the bases. Rookie Shea Hillenbrand doubled to right, giving the Red Sox a 4-3 advantage.

Brian Daubach and Lou Merloni added sacrifice flies and four Boston pitchers combined to hold the Yankees scoreless over the final six innings as the Red Sox defeated the world champions for the fifth time in seven meetings this season.

Mussina (1-2) did not walk a batter for the four straight start and struck out five but surrendered six runs -- four earned -- and six hits in four innings.

"He had trouble keeping the ball down. He's been battling the flu," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "He wasn't feeling wonderful, but he can pitch like that. He went out and pitched the best he could, but it just didn't work out for him today."

Mussina departed in favor of Adrian "El Duquecito" Hernandez, who allowed a run and two hits over three innings in his major league debut.

"I wasn't thinking much today about what was happening to me as I was about how the team was doing," Hernandez said through an interpreter.

Frank Castillo (2-1) beat New York for the second time in six days, yielding three runs and six hits in five innings. In Monday's Patriots' Day affair, the veteran righthander tossed six scoreless frames.

"They (the Yankees) came out ready today, but I was able to make adjustments," Castillo said. "The offense took over from there."

Pete Schourek and Rod Beck each pitched an inning around two scoreless frames by Rolando Arrojo. The Yankees did not score after a sacrifice fly by Bernie Williams gave them a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third.

The Yankees held a 2-0 lead after Paul O'Neill's sixth homer off Castillo in the first, but a homer by Hillenbrand, his second, cut the deficit in half in the third. A run-scoring double by Jose Offerman tied it.

"It's a great thrill, but with a little disbelief at the same time," Hillenbrand said. "I really didn't know how to control my emotions. It's a good thing now because we're showing people out there we can compete."

"A couple of years ago (Hillenbrand) was at our camp," Williams added. "Somebody must have seen something then, something that I didn't see. But he's really helped our ballclub so far this year."

O'Neill set a career high for homers in April. His most productive home run month came in June 1993, when he belted seven.

Boston shortstop Craig Grebeck left the game in the second inning with left eye irritation.