Barry Chin, Associated Press The Yankees' Alex Rodriguez is pushed by Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek after Rodriguez was hit by a pitch from Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo yesterday in the third inning at Fenway Park.. Click photo for larger image.

BOSTON -- There's a little fight left in the Boston Red Sox, after all.

Bill Mueller hit a two-run homer against Mariano Rivera to cap a three-run ninth inning yesterday, and the Red Sox rallied to defeat the New York Yankees, 11-10, after a brawl sparked when Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch.

Former Yankee Ramiro Mendoza (1-0) earned the win with two hitless innings for Boston, which overcame four errors and rallied from a 9-4 deficit.

Boston trailed, 10-8, when Nomar Garciaparra doubled to lead off the ninth against Rivera (1-1), who had converted 23 consecutive save chances.

Trot Nixon hit a fly ball to the warning track and then Kevin Millar followed with his fourth hit of the game, a single that scored Garciaparra.

Mueller then homered into the bullpen, just the second homer against Rivera this year.

"What a difference a swing makes," said Boston manager Terry Francona, who had been ejected in the fifth. "We didn't quit."

Rodriguez, Kenny Lofton, Jason Varitek and Gabe Kapler also were ejected during a third-inning brawl that started when Bronson Arroyo hit Rodriguez with a pitch.

The Red Sox were two outs from falling 10 1/2 games behind New York in the American League East Division. They have never come back from more than 10 games to win the division.

Instead, Boston is 8 1/2 games back heading into the series finale tonight tied with the Chicago White Sox for the wild-card lead.

Hideki Matsui went 3 for 5 with three RBIs for the Yankees.

Ruben Sierra homered to lead off the seventh to make the score, 10-8, after the teams combined for 10 runs in the sixth inning, which last 1 hour and five minutes.

The Red Sox were trailing, 3-0, and hitless before Bronson Arroyo plunked Rodriguez, prompting the AL MVP to stare at the mound as he moved slowly toward first.

Varitek, the catcher, positioned himself in front of Rodriguez and the two began jawing before Varitek, still wearing his mask, pushed Rodiguez in the face.

The dugouts and bullpens emptied.

Several scrums erupted, with Kapler battling Yankees starter Tanyon Sturtze, soon joined by Nixon and David Ortiz. Sturtze was bleeding from the left ear.

Francona was ejected in the fifth inning after arguing a call by second base umpire Mike Winters on a force play at the bag.

Sturtze pitched the bottom of the third with mud or blood on his shoulder, but he left after the inning with a bruised right pinky.

Wilson went 2 for 3 with a two-run single in the sixth that made the score, 9-4. Rodriguez, the reigning AL MVP, is 0 for 8 with the bases loaded this year.

New York took the lead in the second when Arroyo missed the bag while covering on a grounder to the second baseman. Jorge Posada singled to center and Matsui doubled into the left-center gap to score one. Posada scored on Tony Clark's groundout to make the score, 2-0.

They made the score, 3-0, in the top of the third when Bernie Williams doubled, took third on Derek Jeter's single and scored on Gary Sheffield's double play groundout. That brought Rodriguez to the plate.

The Red Sox, who are on the verge of dropping out of the division race, seemed to get a spark from the brawl.

They opened the bottom half with Millar's single and Mueller's double before Mark Bellhorn and Johnny Damon hit run-scoring groundouts.

After Juan Padilla replaced Sturtze, Garciaparra singled in two runs to give Boston a 4-3 lead.

Matsui had a two-run double in the sixth, Miguel Cairo had a run-scoring single and Sheffield drew a bases-loaded walk as New York sent 12 batters to the plate.

Boston sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom half, getting a sacrifice fly from Mueller, an run-scoring double from Bellhorn, a run-scoring single from Damon and a bases-loaded walk by Manny Ramirez.

The teams also brawled last fall at Fenway Park in Game 3 of the ALCS, when Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez threw 72-year-old Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer to the ground.

Zimmer, a former Boston manager who is now with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, apologized the next day.

In 1976, New York's Lou Piniella collided with Boston catcher Carlton Fisk at home plate in Yankee Stadium and came up swinging. In the ensuing fight, Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee was body-slammed and wound up with a broken collarbone.