NEW YORK -- Brian McCann will have all winter to figure out what went wrong in his first year with the New York Yankees. In the meantime, hes trying to help them make a late push to reach the playoffs. McCann homered among his career high-tying four hits and the Yankees bounced back to end a three-game losing streak, beating the Boston Red Sox 5-1 Wednesday night. "Its just good to contribute," he said. McCann homered a day earlier as the Yankees got battered by Boston, leaving them five games behind for the second AL wild-card spot. In the rematch with the last-place Red Sox, he drove in three runs and gave an early cushion to Hiroki Kuroda (10-8). McCann has mostly been a disappointment with the Yankees, stuck in a season-long slump. A seven-time All-Star for Atlanta, he signed a rich free-agent deal with New York but hasnt hit much, prompting manager Joe Girardi to note before the game, "I think he expected more from himself." "It took me longer to get going with the bat than normal," McCann agreed. "I havent tried to dissect it." McCann went 4 for 4 after opening the game hitting .237, 40 points below his career average. Then again, nobody has really hit much among these longtime rivals. They began the day as the two lowest-scoring teams in the AL, and no one in either starting lineup was batting over .285. Kuroda gave up one run and four hits in seven innings, striking out eight without a walk. He evened his mark at 78-78 in seven seasons for the Yankees and Dodgers. Anthony Ranaudo (3-1) lost for the first time in his four starts since making his big league debut. Boston kept up its weeklong pattern of alternating wins and losses. McCann connected for his 17th homer, a two-run shot in the second. The drive quieted Ranaudos sizable cheering section -- raised in central New Jersey, he beat the Yankees last month in his first game. "I was a little disappointed that we lost the game in general, that the team lost the game," Ranaudo said. "I wasnt really worried about my family or friends. Its great that they were here, that they support me and everything like that, but the team is definitely way more important." McCann got four hits for the 11th time in his career, capped by an RBI single in the seventh. Hes homered 15 times at home this year, and launched his latest shot to right field over the overshifted Boston defence. Lately, hes even tried to bunt to beat the stacked right side. "It looks like theres 12 guys out there," he said. A day after bad baserunning dearly cost the Yankees, they tried a double steal in the first. Instead, Derek Jeter and Brett Gardner ran right into a double play. Jeter was on second and Gardner was on first when they took off. Catcher Christian Vazquez targeted the trailing runner, trapping Gardner in a rundown. Second baseman Jemile Weeks suddenly zipped a throw across the diamond that caught Jeter straying off third, and third baseman Brock Holts toss nailed Gardner at second. The Red Sox werent so swift around the bags, either. Daniel Nava got picked off first by Kuroda, seeming incredibly nonchalant returning to the base. Moments earlier, Kuroda had looked back Nava without making a throw. TRAINERS ROOM Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia missed his fourth game in a row because of concussion-like symptoms. Manager John Farrell said Pedroia took early batting practice and passed an online test in his recovery. Farrell said he was "optimistic" Pedroia would play during Bostons upcoming homestand, which starts Friday night. Yankees: INF-OF Martin Prado has temporarily been shut down because of a mild strain of his left hamstring. He was hurt Tuesday night, and Girardi said "hopefully its just a day or two." UP NEXT Red Sox RHP Brandon Workman (1-8, 4.93 ERA) starts the series finale Thursday night against LHP Chris Capuano (2-3, 4.24). Capuano began the season with Boston and pitched 28 times in relief before being released. He later played in the minors for Colorado and joined the Yankees in late July. THREE OF A KIND Bostons 3-4-5 hitters -- David Ortiz, Yoenis Cespedes and Nava -- all began the game batting .263. The last time three teammates in a row had the same average this late in a season was Sept. 8, 2011, when Kansas Citys Alex Gordon, Melky Cabrera and Billy Butler each was hitting .300, STATS said. Cheap Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys . De La Rosa pitched six strong innings to win his sixth consecutive decision, Todd Helton homered and the Colorado Rockies snapped the Los Angeles Dodgers six-game winning streak with a 7-5 victory on Wednesday night. Custom Nike New York Yankees Jerseys . - Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery was so busy in free agency he didnt mind having a few extra weeks to prepare for the draft. https://www.customnikebaseballjerseys.com/. According to TSNs Farhan Lalji, Richardson is heading to Toronto for a physical and is expected to sign with the Argonauts. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Outlet . Ilonen birdied five of his closing seven holes in superb scoring conditions to end the day with a two-shot lead on the Fota Island course. Ilonen had just 26 putts on the occasion of his 300th European Tour event. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Sale . - Mark Sanchez found out the New York Jets had acquired Tim Tebow on a conference call with team management.SPOKANE, Wash. -- Xavier Thames dropped in 3s from deep, finessed floaters in the lane and carried San Diego State the way he did all season as the Mountain West player of the year. Thames would not let North Dakota State become this years version of Florida Gulf Coast by sending the Aztecs home in the third round of the NCAA tournament. Thames scored 30 points, and fourth-seeded San Diego State reached the round of 16 for the second time in school history, ending the run of No. 12 seed North Dakota State 63-44 on Saturday. The Aztecs (31-4) now get to make the short drive up the interstate to Anaheim, Calif., where they will face either No. 1 seed Arizona or eighth-seeded Gonzaga in the West Regional semifinals on Thursday. Thames, who was 9 of 19 from the field, had five assists and ended the comeback hopes of the Bison with a six-point spurt late in the second half that pushed the Aztecs lead to 12. He finished one shy of his career-high in points. Dwayne Polee II was the only other San Diego State player in double figures with 15, but the Aztecs didnt need a ton of scoring with Thames carrying the load and another defensive performance that suffocated the best shooting team in the country. Kory Brown led the Bison (26-7) with 13 points, but it was the struggles of leading scorer Taylor Braun that had North Dakota State trying to play catch up. Braun missed nine straight shots during one stretch. Sometimes he was guarded by Thames. Other times it was J.J. OBrien taking a turn on the Summit League player of the year. Braun finished 2-of-14 shooting and justt seven points.dddddddddddd. North Dakota State shot 50.9 per cent for the season to lead the country, but could only make 31.9 per cent against the Aztecs. The 44 points were a season-low for the Bison, the previous low being 56 in a win over Western Illinois. North Dakota State was one of three No. 12 seeds to help create another manic March by upsetting No. 5 seed Oklahoma 80-75 in overtime in the second round on Thursday. They had the players and the personality to become this years version of FGCU -- just minus all those dunks. Thames wasnt going to allow that to happen. The memories were still fresh of the flight home last year after San Diego State become one of those teams FGCU dunked all over on its way to an unforgettable March run. Thames did it all for the Aztecs in the first half. He was responsible for 23 of San Diego States 30 points, scoring 16 and assisting on another three baskets. He started the second half with a floater in the lane, a shot he repeated minutes later. He then found Polee on the wing for a 3 and the Aztecs lead was back to 40-30 after a quick North Dakota State spurt had trimmed the deficit to five. Braun finally got a shot to fall when he spun in a reverse layup with 12:11 left, his first field goal in nearly 27 minutes of game time. By that point, the Bison were down eight and could never get much closer. Braun finished the first half 1-of-10 shooting and equally quiet was Lawrence Alexander. The guard who hit all the big shots against Oklahoma finished with three points after scoring 28 against the Sooners. ' ' '