Kansas City, Mo. ? The New York Yankees’ struggling starters are beginning to put it together — just in time for a big series against Boston.

After struggling with his mechanics the last few weeks, Javier Vazquez found his groove Wednesday and pitched New York to its second straight shutout.

“I got my confidence back a little bit,” Vazquez said after throwing seven impressive innings in a 3-0 victory over Kansas City. “Hopefully, I’ll get on a roll now.”

Derek Jeter homered and doubled twice, and Tony Clark also connected for the Yankees. They are four games ahead of Boston in the AL East and have a day off before beginning a three-game series against the Red Sox on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

“We’ve obviously got more work ahead of us,” manager Joe Torre said. “Going into the weekend, we feel good about ourselves, and it’s just a matter of who’s going to play better those games.”

Vazquez (14-9) allowed just three hits and four walks, striking out seven for his first win in six starts since beating Toronto, 11-4, on Aug. 6. He was 0-3 with a 9.99 ERA in his previous five outings.

“When you struggle a little bit, you get away from what’s been successful,” he said. “I was trying to hit the corners too much, and I wasn’t aggressive enough.”

Tom Gordon gave up one hit in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera finished the four-hitter for his major league-leading 49th save in 52 chances.

The Yankees posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since Aug. 27-28, 2002, a big boost for a rotation that has struggled all season. Mike Mussina gave up only three hits and struck out 11 in eight innings of a 4-0 victory over the Royals on Tuesday night.

6News video: Royals face second straight shut-out

That gem came on the heels of New York’s 17-8 loss Monday. But now Kansas City has not scored in 19 innings.

“It doesn’t feel so much frustrating as it feels like it’s been this kind of season,” said infielder Desi Relaford, who went 0-for-3 with a walk. “We’ve just been really inconsistent.”

Darrell May (9-18) had a season-high eight strikeouts in 61/3 innings but added to his major league-leading loss total.