This loss did not eliminate the New York Yankees from the playoffs. It made their chances a bit more difficult, yes, but the race is by no means over. What this game did do is make yesterday's loss seem only slightly disappointing. When Andy Pettitte left the mound after the sixth inning, the Yankees had a 8-3 lead. By the time the bullpen was done with things the Red Sox held a 12-8 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Pettitte started off the game on fire. He struck out both Shane Victorino and Jonny Gomes on three pitches. And after allowing a single to Dustin Pedroia, he struck out David Ortiz on just four pitches for the third out. Then the Yankees' offense proceeded to get him some run support in the bottom of the first. Derek Jeter drew a one-out walk and was brought home by Alfonso Soriano crushing a home run over the left field wall. After the first inning, the Yankees had a 2-0 lead.
The second innings did not go quite as well as the first did for Andy. Mike Napoli led off with a single and Daniel Nava followed that up by drawing a walk against Pettitte. After Stephen Drew struck out, David Ross singled up the middle. That scored Napoli and made it 2-1. Andy got out of the jam by getting Will Middlebrooks to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Yankees made up for the Red Sox run by scoring a couple more in the second. Vernon Wells led off the inning by drawing a walk off Felix Doubront. He came all the way around to score when Eduardo Nunez laced a triple to left-center. Two batters later, Nunez scored himself on a Chris Stewart sac fly. That gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead.
The Red Sox cut into the lead with a run in the fourth. Napoli led off the inning with a double. After tagging up and moving to third on a fly out, Napoli scored on Drew's ground out. That made it 4-2.
The Yankees continued to tack on runs and were able to knock Doubront out of the game in the fourth. After the first two went down in order, Mark Reynolds kept the inning alive by drawing a walk. Chris Stewart also drew a walk to bring the top of the order back around. Brett Gardner came up and hit a triple thanks partly to Shane Victorino's Raul Ibanez-esque dive. That scored Reynolds and Stewart and made it 6-2.
The Red Sox cut into the lead again when Middlebrooks led off the top of the fifth with a home run. However, the Yankees continued on with what they were doing, and got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Robinson Cano hit a one-out double. He tagged up and went to third on Alex Rodriguez's fly out and scored when Vernon Wells singled. That extended the Yankees' lead back to four runs and made it 7-3. Nunez kept the inning alive with a single, which brought Reynolds to the plate. Reynolds singled to bring home Wells and the lead was up to 8-3.
Andy's day was done after the sixth inning. Pettitte went six innings, allowing three runs on five hits and three walk. He struck out eight in what was a decent start that the Yankees really needed.
In the top of the seventh, Phil Hughes made his first appearance out of the bullpen since being moved there a couple days ago. That went as well as you would expect. Ross led off with a single on a grounder than Nunez couldn't quite get a glove to. Two batter later, Victorino hit a one-out single. After that Mike Carp drew a walk to load the bases. (You'll be shocked to know the count in that at bat was 0-2 at one point.) That brought Pedroia to the plate. Pedroia hit a soft grounder to Rodriguez at third. The throw to first was in time, but Reynolds couldn't hang on to the ball. It was ruled a hit and it scored a run, cutting the lead to 8-4.
With the bases loaded and Ortiz coming to the plate, Girardi decided that he'd had enough of Hughes. Lefty Boone Logan came in to face Ortiz. After loading the count, Logan struck out Ortiz looking for the second out. The inning then came down to Napoli against Logan. The count loaded again, but this time Logan wouldn't get out of it. Napoli hit a grand slam off the top of the wall and suddenly the game was tied at eight. All Pettitte's work was erased.
Preston Claiborne came in and got the last out of the seventh and came back out for the top of the eighth. He started the inning well by striking out Ross. But he then proceeded to give up a single to Middlebrooks and Victorino then launched a two-run home run of him. The Yankees had not only squandered the lead but were now in a two-run hole.
After that Joba Chamberlain came in and Joba-ed it up. There were hits and walk and when the top of the eighth was over it was 12-8.
The Yankees' offense threatened to get back in it in the eighth, but couldn't come up with anything. Matt Daley pitched the top of the ninth and stopped the bleeding with a scoreless ninth. Koji Uehara came in and blew away the Yankees in the ninth and sealed the win. Welp.
David Huff gets the start tomorrow as the Yankees look to get something positive going again. First pitch is at 1:05 eastern.