updated 9:32 a.m. ET July 18, 2005

BOSTON - Al Leiter knew he could still pitch. The New York Yankees weren’t so sure.

The 39-year-old left-hander rewarded New York just one day after being rescued from the scrap heap, pitching three-hit ball into the seventh inning on Sunday night to help the Yankees beat Boston 5-3 and pull within a half-game of the Red Sox in the AL East.

“It felt really good to be in that uniform, be in this place, against a really good team,” said Leiter, who was originally drafted by the Yankees in 1984. “I knew I wasn’t done.”

With four starters on the disabled list and a thin trade market for pitchers, New York bought Leiter from the Florida Marlins — and cheaply, too — and halfheartedly put him in the rotation. He responded with a season-high eight strikeouts and three walks in 6 1-3 innings, allowing just one run in his first AL win since 1995.

“If there’s any moment of my career that defined me, it was (pitching for) ... a team with its back against the wall,” said Leiter, who pitched a no-hitter for Florida in 1996 and went 8 2-3 innings, throwing 141 pitches, for the Mets in the final game of the 2000 World Series.

“I like those moments. I like the nervous energy, that need for concentration.”

Despite a two-run rally against reliever Tom Gordon and closer Mariano Rivera in the ninth, the Yankees won three out of four from Boston, earning their 10th win in 12 games to move a season-high eight games above .500. They have not been this close to first place since the first week of the season.

The Red Sox have lost five of six to whittle away what was a four-game lead in the division on July 6. Tim Wakefield (8-8) pitched his first complete game since 1998 and allowed just five hits, but they included two-run homers by Jorge Posada and Gary Sheffield and a solo shot by Alex Rodriguez.

“He gave up five hits — three doubles and two home runs. That’s a weird line,” manager Terry Francona said. “He left some pitches over the plate and they hit them and they all accounted for runs.”

Johnny Damon doubled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 29 games — the longest in the majors since Albert Pujols went 30 games in 2003. Damon hit a long flyball that just eluded Sheffield’s leap in right-center.

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