BOSTON (AP) – John Burkett playfully plugged his ears when the question came, because his career record against the New York Yankees isn’t the kind of statistic that inspires confidence.

“Are you going to throw some numbers at me that I don’t want to hear?” he joked. “Something negative about how I’ve done against the Yankees, right?”

Burkett knows all too well that he has never beaten New York in the regular season. In a 14-year major league career, much of it in the NL, he is 0-6 with an 8.49 ERA in 11 games.

“I think you’re totally capable of going 0-for-10 against a team and beating them the next time out,” he said. “I think you’re capable of being 10-0 against a team and losing the next time out or pitching badly.”

He proved that in the first round of the 1996 AL playoffs, beating the Yankees 6-2 with a complete game for Texas. The Red Sox need a strong game from Burkett in Game 6 on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium to force a decisive seventh game. Burkett was supposed to pitch Sunday, but manager Grady Little pushed him back in the rotation because of the rainout.

“When I’m told what’s going to happen, Grady is an honest scout,” Burkett said. “I thought that was a no-brainer decision. And now I’ll get the opportunity to pitch Game 6.

More Mo for Yanks

Yankees closer Mariano Rivera pitched two innings Tuesday for the second time in three ALCS appearances. During the regular season, he did that just five times in 64 games.

But he has no complaints.

“I enjoy it,” Rivera said. “Why? Because I’m in the game. I love to be in the game. I don’t come here just to watch a game. I come here to participate.”

He did plenty more than that, finishing New York’s 4-2 victory over Boston for his second save of the series. Rivera did give up a run, ending his string of scoreless appearances at 19. In his five innings during the ALCS, he’s allowed one run and three hits while striking out three.

“I feel comfortable with him coming in the eighth,” winning pitcher David Wells said. “He’s the best there ever is, was and will be, till proven otherwise.”

“When Mariano comes in, it’s like money in the bank for us,” second baseman Alfonso Soriano said.

Keep on running

The Red Sox scored a major league-best 961 runs this season with the help of aggressive baserunning.

They don’t plan to change that, even though five runners have been thrown out on steal attempts or hit-and-run plays in the AL championship series.

“We’ve got a club that’s scored nearly 1,000 runs and we weren’t able to do that standing around waiting for something to happen,” manager Grady Little said.

The decision to keep running to avoid double-play grounders was affirmed in a pregame meeting involving Little and members of his staff.

Damian Jackson was caught stealing in Game 1, Gabe Kapler was erased as part of a double play when Bill Mueller struck out in Game 2 and the same thing happened to Manny Ramirez when David Ortiz fanned in Game 3.

Trot Nixon was thrown out twice in Game 4, at second for a double play as Mueller struck out and at home on a double-steal attempt.

But Little pointed out that Ramirez was running in the fourth inning of the opener when Ortiz homered.

Starting runners as the pitch is delivered “benefited us this year,” Little said. “We’re banking on something good happening.”

It also instills confidence in players when the manager believes they can deliver in those situations.

“We’ve got hitters on this team that are offended when we’re not going on 3-2,” Little said.

AP-ES-10-14-03 2150EDT