NEW YORK — The game spun out of synch right from the very first pitch.

Boston’s Julio Lugo crushed that first pitch on a line, the sizzling baseball slamming into the right knee of New York starter Jeffrey Karstens, sending him to the ground in pain with what was diagnosed as a broken leg late last night.

And for the rest of the day, everything seem to be a little off-kilter, filled with surprises and little things that meant a lot as both teams dealt with frustration for the entire nine innings.

At the end of this one, though, it was the Yankees breathing a sigh of relief, their losing streak snapped at seven games with Mariano Rivera recapturing his old form in saving New York’s hard-earned, 3-1 victory in a grinder of a game at Yankee Stadium.

This was a game with a lot of notations in the margins of the scorecard.

Karstens tried to continue, but was replaced after six pitches. The Yankees had to bring in Kei Igawa, who hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire since leaving the Japanese League and signing with New York during the offseason.

Boston’s Mike Lowell, who made six errors all of last year and has a Gold Glove to his credit, was charged with two more errors yesterday.

Tim Wakefield walked six, a bases-on-balls total he has equaled or eclipsed only two other times in 192 career appearances, including 145 starts.

The Yankees were victimized by two double plays and stranded 12 baserunners, leaving the sacks filled in back-to-back innings, the fifth and sixth.

The tightness the Yanks were feeling in trying to finally squeeze out a win led to an almost tangible sense of frustration at their being unable to take advantage of their chances for a laugher yesterday.

The Sox’ frustration at not being able to mount much of an attack against Igawa and the Yanks’ relievers, meanwhile, erupted in the eighth, when Coco Crisp was called out on strikes by plate umpire Bruce Froemming on a two-seam fastball from Kyle Farnsworth that looked outside on replays.

There were two on and two out at the time, the Yanks trying desperately to hang onto this win. Crisp tossed his bat and helmet in anger, and was given the boot.

And that just about summed up the emotions from the Red Sox’ side.

“It seemed like everything was going wrong for them from the first pitch,” said Lowell. “But Igawa pitched a great game. Maybe it would have been different if Karstens had stayed in.”

“We were hoping to get Karstens out quick and get into their bullpen, but not that quick,” added first baseman Kevin Youkilis, whose popup to second ended the game.

Igawa’s performance (six-plus shutout innings, two hits, six strikeouts) was a pleasant surprise for the Yanks, who were in need of a quality outing. Wakefield, on the other hand, had to battle all day.

He was able to limit the damage for the most part, but was stung by a two-run homer by Jorge Posada in the fourth and Melky Cabrera’s opposite-field, ground-rule double in the sixth.

“It was one of those days when I didn’t have my best stuff,” said Wakefield, whose record dropped to 2-3. “I battled to keep the team in the game as long as I could.”

skrasner@projo.com