Boston ? Those Red Sox managers just never learn.

With an eerie resemblance to last year’s postseason debacle, Pedro Martinez took a lead into the eighth inning before tiring, and the New York Yankees rallied past Boston, 6-4, Friday night to open a 512-game advantage in the AL East.

“It had a lot of similarities to the playoff game last year,” Yankees starter Mike Mussina said. “History tends to repeat itself — but usually not that quickly.”

Grady Little was the Red Sox manager last fall when he left Martinez in during the eighth inning of Game 7 in the AL championship series; the Yankees overcame a 5-2 deficit to tie it and earned a World Series berth when Aaron Boone homered in the 11th.

Little was let go after the season and replaced by Terry Francona. But Francona, much as his predecessor did, sent Martinez (16-8) back out for the eighth even though he needed 101 pitches to get through the first seven innings; the Boston fans let Francona hear about it on Friday, much as they did for his predecessor.

Hideki Matsui homered on pitch No. 103 to make it 4-4, and Bernie Williams followed with a ground-rule double. Martinez struck out Jorge Posada, who hit the game-tying double off the Red Sox ace in the ALCS, but Ruben Sierra singled home the go-ahead run and — finally — chased Martinez.

“If I run out there after two pitches … it would make it look like I wasn’t making a very good decision before the inning,” Francona said. “We put a lot of thought into what we’re doing. I was disappointed it was a tie game instead of having a one-run lead, but two pitches into the inning he’s still, in my opinion, he’s OK.”

Athletics 6, Angels 3

Anaheim, Calif. — Rich Harden pitched seven strong innings, Eric Byrnes hit a two-run homer and Oakland took a three-game lead in the AL West with a victory over Anaheim. Anaheim remained tied for second with Texas, who are both six games back of Boston in the wild-card race.

Mariners 8, Rangers 7

Arlington, Texas — Ichiro Suzuki had two more hits to move within eight of George Sisler’s major-league record, and Randy Winn’s infield single in the ninth helped Seattle end Texas’ five-game winning streak. Suzuki, 2-for-4, singled in the third and sixth innings and had a sacrifice fly in the fourth. His 249 hits moved him past Ty Cobb and into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time single-season list. Sisler had 257 hits in 1920.

Twins 8, Indians 2

Cleveland — Johan Santana became the second 20-game winner in the major leagues with his 13th consecutive victory, leading Minnesota over Cleveland.

Orioles 7, Tigers 5

Baltimore — Miguel Tejada hit a game-winning three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead Baltimore over Detroit. Tejada, who went 4-for-5 with four RBIs, hit a 1-0 pitch from Esteban Yan over the center-field wall for his 31st homer and Baltimore’s fourth walk-off win of the season. Javy Lopez homered and drove in three runs for the Orioles, who blew a 3-0 lead but then rallied from a 5-3 deficit.

Devil Rays 4, Blue Jays 2

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Aubrey Huff hit his 29th homer and Mark Hendrickson pitched seven solid innings, leading Tampa Bay past Toronto. Julio Lugo broke a 2-all tie with a two-run single in the sixth for Tampa Bay.