Yankees’ rally falls short for second straight game, lose to Red Sox 3-2

For the second straight day the New York Yankees were unable to overtake the Boston Red Sox after tying the score late in the game. It wasn’t due to a lack of effort from the battery of Hiroki Kuroda and Russell Martin.

Martin hit a solo homer in the seventh inning and then drove in the tying run in the eighth inning with a single, but the Yankees wound up on the losing end after David Robertson was victimized by a leadoff walk in the top of the tenth inning as the Red Sox won 3-2, taking the series victory. Martin reached base in all four of his plate appearances.

The Yankees were held at bay by Felix Doubront despite his bets efforts to help the Yankees with five walks. Doubront was nursing a two-run lead which the Red Sox received courtesy of a Ryan Sweeney double off Kuroda in the second inning. The Yankees righty was excellent, allowing just the two runs on seven hits, one walk and struck out four in eight innings. He was able to keep the Yankees in the game by inducing four double-play grounders.

After Martin tied the score in the eighth with his fourth homer since the All-Star break and twelfth overall, Rafael Soriano came in a tossed a perfect ninth inning using only 8 pitches. The Yankees failed to score in the bottom half of the inning and Yankees manager Joe Girardi elected to go with David Robertson in the tenth.

Robertson walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia and then allowed a single to Will Middlebrooks moving the runner to third base. During Middlebrooks’ at-bat, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine was ejected for arguing that one of the pitches to his third baseman hit him on the wrist. After the delay, Robertson got Sweeney to ground into a force out and Yankee killer Pedro Ciriaco blooped a single to right scoring Saltalamacchia with the go-ahead run. Ciriaco is 11-for-22 in five games versus the Yankees this season.

The Yankees couldn’t get anything going with the middle of their lineup hitting in the tenth as former Yankee Alfredo Aceves completed 2 1/3 innings of relief for the win. The Yankees one-through-four hitters went 1-for-19 on the night with six strikeouts. Nick Swisher was back in the starting lineup for the Yankees and went 2-for-4 with two singles.

The Yankees (60-41) lost a game in the standings and lead the American League East by 7.5 games over the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox (51-51) inched to within 9.5 games of the Yankees and sit four games back in the wild card race. The Red Sox will have to make a decision in the next couple days as to whether they are buyers or sellers with the non-waiver trade deadline ending tomorrow at 4:00 pm.

The Yankees will not receive any rest as the Orioles move into Yankee Stadium for a three-game set beginning tonight with Freddy Garcia (4-4, 5.16 ERA) on the hill to face Miguel Gonzalez (2-2, 4.28 ERA).

Be sure to check out the Yanks Go Yard Podcast Series Preview later this morning.