Yankees lose Game 2 in 10 after winning Game 1 in 10

BOSTON - It could not have set up better for the Yankees.

Win the second game of their Saturday doubleheader against the Red Sox and they would need only a victory Sunday to secure the AL East title, regardless of what the Rays do against the Royals.

But against a Red Sox lineup more familiar to fans in Pawtucket - Boston's Triple-A affiliate - the Yankees lost, 7-6, in 10 innings.

The Yankees won the first game, 6-5, also in 10 innings.

That leaves the Yankees and Rays tied at 95-66. Tampa Bay beat the Royals, 4-0, Saturday night in Kansas City.

To finish first now, the Yankees not only must beat the Red Sox but need the Royals to defeat the Rays. If the Yankees and Rays finish in a tie, Tampa Bay will earn the AL East title because of their 10-8 advantage over the Yankees in the season series.

The Yankees' Dustin Moseley will oppose Boston's John Lackey on Sunday. Tampa Bay's Wade Davis faces Kansas City's Sean O'Sullivan.

Referring to the Yankees having their destiny in their hands and giving that up, manager Joe Girardi said: "I'm proud of how hard our guys played tonight; that's the bottom line when you look at it. Our guys played and played and played and never gave up. We've been going at it since 4 o'clock, it's 1:30 in the morning and there wasn't much of a break between Game 1 and Game 2."

Moseley found out right after Game 2 that he will get the start. Asked when he typically would want to go to bed before making a start, Moseley said with a laugh: "Earlier than this."

The AL East champion will face the Rangers and the wild-card team will take on the Twins in the ALDS. "People are speculating a lot about who we're going to play in the first round and who's better for us to play and things like that," said Phil Hughes (18-8), who pitched a perfect ninth inning in Game 1 and picked up the victory. "But we have one goal in there and that's to win the division. That's what we set out for in spring training and that's what we're going after. We're not going to take our foot off the gas pedal."

The Yankees went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position in Game 2, making them 4-for-37 in the doubleheader. The Red Sox were 6-for-30.

Each team used seven pitchers in Game 1 and four in Game 2 for a total of 22.

Girardi said of his players' availability for Sunday: "I'll see how guys are. We're playing in 12 hours again. We'll see what we've got . . . I have to see how their bodies are. The one thing we said we won't do is we won't injure people. We had some guys who played a lot of innings today.''

The Red Sox scored the game-winner in Game 2 when Eric Patterson singled up the middle with one out iin the 10th to drive in Bill Hall, who doubled off Ivan Nova (1-2) to start the inning and moved to third on Kevin Cash's sacrifice. The Yankees wasted leads of 4-1 and 6-4.

After the first game lasted 4 hours, 18 minutes, the second game didn't start until 9:22 p.m. in front of an announced crowd of 37,589, though it probably was about three-quarters of that. When the four-hour second game ended at 1:22 a.m., not even one-quarter of the crowd was left.

What they saw was a hideously played game, one rife with wild pitches, hit batsmen and throwing errors.

The starters were tagged with a combined four unearned runs, though neither Daisuke Matsuzaka nor A.J. Burnett pitched especially well.

It was an especially disconcerting performance for Burnett, who took the mound with the hopes of convincing the Yankees he can be trusted in the playoffs. But against a mostly Triple-A lineup, he allowed four runs - two earned - and six hits, including a home run. Burnett hit two and threw a wild pitch.

He also had a brain-freeze moment in the fourth as the Red Sox moved within 4-3.

Daniel Nava led off the inning with a double and Josh Reddick hit a grounder that first baseman Lance Berkman couldn't handle. After picking it up, he flipped the ball to Burnett, who was beaten to the bag by Reddick, according to first-base umpire Brian Runge.

Burnett, checking where Nava was, didn't seem to realize at first that Reddick had been called safe, and as the pitcher turned to debate the call, Nava took off for home. Made aware of that, Burnett turned and rushed his throw to the plate, throwing wide of Francisco Cervelli. The two-base error cut Boston's deficit to 4-3 and landed Reddick on third with none out.

Said Burnett, "I just thought he was out, then I heard the crowd, turned back around . . . whether he was out or not, I don't know, but that whole thing, I probably should have called time, but I didn't think about it."

Said Girardi, "It's something that probably shouldn't happen . . . I didn't see a replay, but it cost us a run."

But Burnett did wind up stranding Reddick. He struck out Yamaico Navarro, and after Cervelli dropped Cash's foul pop-up, Burnett struck out Cash and got Patterson on a soft liner to short.

Said Burnett, "As far as my mind and focusing and being able to correct things, it was a lot better tonight."

Ryan Kalish led off the sixth with a single, stole second and went to third when Cervelli's throw bounced into center, the Yankees' fourth error of the night. Reddick popped to short, but Navarro's sacrifice fly made it 4-4.

The Yankees took the lead again in the seventh, getting a two-out RBI single from Cervelli and a run-scoring wild pitch by Scott Atchison that made it 6-4.

Yankees lefthander Royce Ring allowed a walk to pinch hitter Jed Lowrie and a single to Kalish to begin the eighth.

Girardi called for Nova, who many thought would start Sunday. Nova was greeted by Nava's RBI single that made it 6-5. With the bases loaded, Cash - a Yankee last season - got ahead 3-and-0 and eventually fouled off six straight pitches before drawing a walk on the 11th pitch to tie it at 6-6. Nova escaped further damage with a strikeout and groundout.

Matsuzaka allowed an infield single to Brett Gardner to start the first, hit Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano and issued a bases-loaded walk to Berkman that gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Burnett had his own adventure in the first, walking a batter and hitting one in allowing a run that tied it at 1-1.

The Yankees got two unearned runs in the second to take a 3-1 lead and increased their advantage to 4-1 in the third on Cervelli's sacrifice fly.

The Red Sox got one back in the bottom of the third when Felipe Lopez led off with a homer.

Cano had three hits in Game 2 to give him a six-hit day and move him within one hit of 200. Gardner stole three bases in Game 2 to give him 47.

With the score tied 5-5 in Game 1, Gardner led off the 10th against Jonathan Papelbon with a walk. Ramiro Peña sacrificed him to second, bringing Derek Jeter to the plate.

He checked his swing on Papelbon's 1-and-2 slider, sending a soft grounder to the right side in the direction of Hall, moved to second base from right in the ninth when Red Sox manager Terry Francona made a slew of defensive switches and substitutions.

Hall tried to barehand the slow roller - Gardner already was near third by then - and when the ball trickled behind Hall, Gardner raced home to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead.

"That was luck, that's all you can say. Sometimes that's how it goes," Jeter said. "Wish I had more for you, but that was just luck."

Mariano Rivera, who blew three saves in a six-game span in September, retired the Red Sox in order in the 10th to record his 33rd save.

Each team used seven pitchers and left 12 runners on base, with the Yankees going 3-for-21 with runners in scoring position and the Red Sox going 3-for-16. Yankees pitchers struck out 18 and walked eight; Red Sox pitchers fanned 14 and walked seven.

Cano had two doubles and his 29th homer, driving in two runs to lift his season total to 108. Teixeira's RBI double gave him 108 RBIs and Alex Rodriguez drove in a run with a grounder for his 124th RBI.

From a health standpoint, all went well in Andy Pettitte's final tuneup before the playoffs.

Pettitte was coming off a 31/3-inning outing Sept. 24 against the Red Sox in which he allowed six earned runs and 10 hits and, more significant, experienced tightness in his back.

There was no evidence of it being a lingering issue yesterday as he allowed three runs and nine hits in four innings, throwing 88 pitches (he threw only 75 in his previous start). Not a great start by any means, but there were enough encouraging signs - such as eight strikeouts - to show he'll be ready for the Division Series.

"I felt like I made a whole bunch of good pitches," Pettitte said. "But I wasn't real sharp today. But my back wasn't giving me any trouble at all today. I'm ready to go."