NEW YORK — Hideki Matsui tied the World Series record with six RBIs on a home run, single and double that each drove in two runs, and the New York Yankees led the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 through eight innings in Game 6 on Wednesday as they neared their record 27th championship.
Matsui’s third home run of the World Series gave starter Andy Pettitte a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
Philadelphia, which fought off elimination by winning 8-6 in Game 5, got a run back in the third inning on Jimmy Rollins’ sacrifice fly.
Matsui hit a bases-loaded single with two outs in the third, then greeted reliever J.A. Happ with a two-run double off the right-field wall that boosted New York’s lead to 7-1 in a three-run fifth.
Matsui improved to 8-for-12 (.666) with three homers and eight RBIs in the World Series, and 9-for-19 (.474) against Pedro Martinez in postseason play. The only other player with six RBIs in a World Series game was the Yankees’ Bobby Richardson, who had a first-inning grand slam and a two-run single in Game 3 against Pittsburgh in 1960.
Mark Teixeira, in a 2-for-20 slump, singled in a run earlier in the fifth off Chad Durbin after a leadoff double by Derek Jeter hopped the fence in left-center. Jeter had two hits and was batting .400 (10-for-25).
Phillies slugger Ryan Howard, just 3-for-21 (.143) with a record-tying 12 strikeouts entering the at-bat, hit a two-run, opposite-field homer to left in the sixth.
After throwing a called third strike past Jayson Werth, Pettitte gave up a double to Raul Ibañez and was replaced by Joba Chamberlain, who got Pedro Feliz to ground out.
Starting on three days’ rest following a start for the first time since September 2006, Pettitte allowed three runs, four hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.
The 37-year-old left-hander won the division series and league championship series clinchers, then beat the Phillies in Game 3 to increase his record for postseason wins to 17.
