Rivera entered to a nice ovation and worked a scoreless ninth inning for his 31st save, closing out a strong effort by New York’s pitchers that carried the Yankees to a 5-2 victory.

“I always love to pitch here, always,” the 43-year old Rivera said. “Yankee Stadium’s home, but I love to come here. It’s a great atmosphere. We’ve played big games here. It’s always good.”

Lyle Overbay and Brett Gardner each collected three hits and drove in a run to back Hiroki Kuroda’s seven strong innings. David Robertson worked a scoreless eighth, setting the stage for Rivera, the All-Star game MVP.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Overbay said of Rivera’s ovation. “He deserves it. I think everybody’s embracing what he’s done as a pitcher, so it’s well-deserving and shows you the respect they have for him.”

Rivera could smile when he was reminded about a standing ovation he got on Opening Day in 2005, the year after Boston rallied from a 3-0 deficit against New York in the American League Championship series en route to the World Series title.

“That’s what happened,” he said.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the injury-riddled Yankees, who hope to be bolstered by the return of captain Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez soon.

Mike Carp had three hits and scored a run for the Red Sox. It was just Boston’s second loss in its past 11 games at Fenway.

In a matchup of veteran right-handers, Kuroda and John Lackey both mostly relied on fastballs in the low 90s with hard sliders to go along with outstanding control. The pair combined for just one walk — by Kuroda — and threw a high percentage of strikes.

“It was a close game all along, so I had to be careful with my pitches,” Kuroda said through a translator. “But when they gave me the run support, I think I was able to be more bold.”

Kuroda (9-6) gave up two runs and five hits, striking out four with a pair of wild pitches — one that led to a run. Robinson Cano added two RBIs.

“I think what was most impressive was, in these conditions, to be able to touch 95 in the sixth, seventh innings against the meat of our order when he needed it,” Boston manager John Farrell said of the 38-year-old Kuroda. “He’s a very good pitcher and had a good day today.”

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The game was tight when Lackey left with a pair of runners on, trailing 2-0 in the seventh. New York then built its lead to 4-0 in the inning on consecutive RBI singles by Cano and Overbay against reliever Matt Thornton.

Lackey (7-7) was charged with four runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven. It snapped a stretch of six consecutive starts when he allowed two or fewer runs, and was just the third time in his 17 starts this season he’s given up more than three.

“With how good their guy pitched, it doesn’t really matter,” Lackey said of being in a tight game. “I’m kind of used to it. A lot of mine have been like that this year. It’s kind of been fun.”

Jonny Gomes had a sacrifice fly and Carp scored on Kuroda’s wild pitch, cutting it to 4-2 in the seventh.

Pitching in sweltering conditions with a game-time temperature of 91 with oppressive humidity, the pair battled through four scoreless innings until New York took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on Gardner’s two-out, RBI single.

It appeared the Yankees had squandered a good chance when they had a runner cut down at the plate on Luis Cruz’s grounder to short. But Cruz, who reached on the fielder’s choice on the play, advanced on a wild pitch before Gardner’s soft liner up the middle just got past the glove of diving second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Eduardo Nunez had a leadoff single, stole second, and was sacrificed, but was thrown out by Stephen Drew.

Cruz’s RBI single made it 2-0 in the seventh before Cano and Overbay added their hits.

Boston also had a runner nailed at the plate when Carp was tagged out by Kuroda in the fifth, ending the inning after his pitch ticked off the glove of catcher Stewart and about 20 feet behind the plate.

Game notes

Farrell said before the game that OF Shane Victorino “felt better than I think he expected to feel” after leaving Friday’s game with left hamstring tightness. Farrell also said “we expect him back in the lineup (Sunday).” … Boston moved LHP Jon Lester back a few days and will send right-hander Ryan Dempster (5-8, 4.24 ERA) in the series finale against the Yankees’ CC Sabathia (9-8, 4.07 ERA) on Sunday night. … Count Sabathia as one that really enjoyed the four-day All-Star break. In fact, he didn’t even know that teammate Cano got plunked on the right knee in the midsummer classic until he heard from one of the coaches before his flight to Boston. “I was just hoping he didn’t come in on crutches,” he said, smiling. “It was good to get the four days. I got away from baseball. As far as anything going on (with the All-Star game or Home Run Derby), I didn’t know anything.” … At the Yankees’ complex in Tampa, Fla., C Francisco Cervelli (right hand and elbow) said he has started hitting drills in an indoor cage and OF Curtis Granderson (broken pinkie), expected back early next month, ran the bases during a simulated game but did not hit. He is taking batting practice. … The start was delayed 21 minutes because of a threat of thunderstorms in the area.

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However, the Phoenix faithful showered Nash with plenty of appreciation during a first-quarter timeout, as the video screen showed a highlight reel from the two-time MVP’s eight seasons with the Suns, while Diddy’s “Coming Home” blasted over the loudspeakers.

Canadian flags waved, homemade “We Love Steve” signs were held up and the majority of U.S. Airways Center gave Nash a standing ovation after taking in a video that showed off the point guard throwing alley-oop passes, swishing 3-pointers with ease and sporting a variety of haircuts.

“It was a great reception; obviously this is a very special place for me,” Nash said after finishing with 11 points and two assists in the Lakers’ 92-86 loss to the Suns. “To be in front of these incredible fans — I’m very grateful for the reception but also for my time here, which was the best years of my life.”

After seeing the Suns’ video tribute, Nash said, “Very flattering and very sweet of the organization. It was very kind of them.”

Nash was drafted by the Suns with the 15th overall pick in the 1996 draft and spent his first two seasons in Phoenix before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks. He had a big game the last time he returned to Phoenix as a visitor, racking up nine points and 14 assists on April 3, 2004, as a member of the Mavs. The Suns signed him as a free agent in 2004 and he went on to win two MVP awards.

“I really want our team to try to get a win and continue to improve,” Nash said before the game when asked if he wanted to have an impactful performance in his return Wednesday. “It has been a really up-and-down season, obviously. I hope a little bit of momentum can keep us going.”

Nash, who turns 39 in February, said he had planned to retire with the Suns before the offseason unfolded.

“I thought that’s the way it was going. I thought I would retire in Phoenix. But it’s a difficult business to make any sort of predictions like that,” Nash said. “It just became apparent in the last couple months before free agency that that wouldn’t be a home run, and that’s when other options started to become a reality. … It just felt like they wanted to perhaps go in a new direction.”

It was also a homecoming of sorts for Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni, who was with Nash in Phoenix from 2003-08, taking the team to two Western Conference finals.

“Sometimes you have a bunch of guys that you think everywhere should be like this and you take it for granted how they clicked and how good it was and how much fun it was to watch them every day,” D’Antoni said. “You kind of take it for granted after a while.

“You’re chasing the championship, you’re chasing this and you forget what we had was good and sometimes you should take care of it a little bit better. I probably didn’t do that.”

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He bounced back to play again and Derrick Nix scored 17 points to help No. 22 Michigan State pull away for a 66-56 victory over Nebraska on Sunday night.

The Spartans — and Dawson in particular — held their breath early in the second half when the sophomore forward tumbled to the court in pain. He missed the Big Ten and NCAA tournament last season after tearing the ACL in his left knee.

“I was scared for a minute and said, ‘Not again,’ ” he said.

Nebraska’s Ray Gallegos was called for a foul when he trailed Dawson on his layup attempt.

“He really didn’t clip me,” Dawson said. “When I planted, the knee buckled.”

After Dawson was examined, he walked slowly off the court and later was able to jog back onto it.

“All of a sudden he came out running like Superman,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Dawson was cleared to return much to the delight of the fans, who gave him a standing ovation with ear-to-ear grins.

“I think my smile was even bigger,” Izzo said. “I was scared to death.”

Dawson showed his knee was very healthy in the final seconds, soaring to slam an alley-oop pass from Keith Appling for the game’s final basket.

Michigan State didn’t have much else to cheer about until late in what was a closely contested game for much of the night.

“I have no idea why we looked so lethargic and why we missed so many shots,” Izzo said. “I am very disappointed in the performance.”

The Spartans (14-3, 3-1 Big Ten) have won three straight and kept the Cornhuskers (9-8, 0-4) from winning their first conference game this season.

Nebraska, which lost its two previous Big Ten road games to Michigan and Ohio State by an average of 20-plus points, was very competitive for much of the game at Michigan State.

“We’re not in it for any sort of consolation prize,” first-year Cornhuskers coach Tim Miles said. “We want to win the game.

“Credit Michigan State, they made winning plays. We had a bad shot and two turnovers late that hurt us. We don’t have enough things going our way to make errors late in the game.”

Nebraska’s David Rivers was put in the starting lineup and had 18 points — two points from his career high — in a breakout performance for a player averaging 5-plus points a game.

“I was more focused,” he said. “I knew someone had to step up and it just happened to be me who made some shots.”

Dylan Talley scored 17 points and Gallegos added 12 while Cornhuskers center Andre Almeida was held scoreless. The Huskers were without Brandon Ubel, who missed the game with an elbow injury. The 6-foot-10 senior is Nebraska’s leading rebounder and third-leading scorer.

Spartans reserve center Adreian Payne scored 14 points, combining with Nix to score 31 points.

“Their big kids went 12 of 17 and our center was 0 for 4,” Miles said. “We need Andre to match those guys if we’re going to be successful.”

Nix broke a 50-all tie with a layup with 6:17 left and Appling later connected on three free throws to give the Spartans a five-point lead, matching their largest to that time. After Nebraska pulled within a point, freshman Gary Harris responded with a 3-pointer — after missing his first 10 shots — that put Michigan State ahead 58-54 with 1:49 remaining during a 14-4 run.

Izzo, though, was not happy.

“They played harder than us, they coached better than us,” Izzo said. “They probably deserved to win the game in every way.”

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