BOSTON — Josh Beckett was not interested in winning anyone’s Cy Young vote yesterday. He was interested only in winning, period.

The Red Sox had suffered a brutal loss late the night before, giving up a five-run lead in the late innings. The Sox needed a win to regain some of the lost momentum and creep closer to wrapping up the American League East.

The matchup with fellow 18-game winner Chien-Ming Wang? Irrelevant. A chance to inch closer to a 20-win season? Unimportant.

The Red Sox — not the pitcher himself — needed a win, and that’s what motivated Beckett.

“I thought Beckett did exactly what we have kind of come to expect and also needed,” said manager Terry Francona after Beckett had limited the Yankees to a single run on three hits over seven innings in the Sox’ 10-1 thumping of the Yanks. “He pitched like an ace of a staff today. Against the best lineup in baseball, he went out there and did exactly what we needed.”

Pitching coach John Farrell was asked whether he thought Beckett enjoyed being counted upon by his team yesterday. Farrell didn’t hesitate to answer in the affirmative.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Farrell said. “History has shown he relishes a big stage when it’s time to elevate his game. He knew who we were playing, what took place last night and what we needed today.”

So Beckett gave the Sox exactly what was necessary. With the bullpen wrung out from the night before and the Yankees pitching Wang, their most dependable starter, Beckett needed to be good.

He was better than that.

“Beckett was great,” said Yankee manager Joe Torre. “He’s a competitor. We all know that. That’s the best he’s pitched against us. It was all Beckett. We know what he’s about. I can’t fault our at-bats; it’s more crediting him.”

It took a while, however, for Beckett to get locked in. Derek Jeter, the second batter of the afternoon, drilled a fastball into the center field bleachers. One batter later, Beckett issued consecutive walks.

“I thought he missed a lot of times close,” said Francona of Beckett’s wavering command. “(The Yankees) don’t expand the zone very often. They make you work hard. After the first couple of innings, he kicked it in gear for about five innings and really pitched well.”

“Really pitched well,” may be an underatement. After walking Jorge Posada for the second walk in the first inning, Beckett retired 18 of the next 19 hitters he faced. After the first inning, he allowed just three baserunners — a two-out single to Bobby Abreu in the third, a hit batsman (Jason Giambi) in the seventh, followed by a two-out single to Robinson Cano.

In one stretch, he retired 12 hitters in a row and the command issues never resurfaced.

“I tried to do what I always do,” Beckett said, “(which is) go out and execute pitches.”

Curt Schilling missed seven weeks while rebuilding the strength in his shoulder, and Daisuke Matsuzaka has been inconsistent for stretches. Beckett, meanwhile, has been the Sox’ best pitcher this season.

He’s cut his walks almost in half (from 74 to 38) and his home runs by almost two-thirds (from 36 to 15). He’s worked six innings or more in 12 of his last 134 starts, during which he’s 8-4 with a 3.01 ERA.

Down the stretch, Beckett is 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA in his last eight outings.

And not that it matters much to him, but he may well have wrapped up the Cy Young Award yesterday, besting Wang, his closest competitor.

He leads the league in wins and is tied for third in ERA at 3.20. He’s among the leaguer leaders in strikeouts (180) opponents batting average-against and winning percentage.

“You know he deserves (the Cy Young Award),” said David Ortiz, admonishing the media to do the right thing.

None of that mattered to Josh Beckett yesterday. He’s not interested in winning popularity contests or individual honors.

“The only urgency he felt,” catcher Jason Varitek said, “was to have a good start to help this team win.”

smcadam@projo.com