Things continue to get worse for the Boston Red Sox, as they lose for a second consecutive game to the New York Yankees, this time 8-7 in Fenway Park with Brett Gardner hitting a game-winning home run in the sixth inning, capping off a furious Yankees rally and comeback before some strong closing innings from Esmil Rogers, Dellin Betances and David Robertson.

If there was any hope for the Red Sox to reach the playoffs, this series with the Yankees in Fenway ended all of that. They lost two of three and instead of getting a victory that would give them some boost to this failing season, they just fall deeper into despair. Losing a three run lead with three innings to go, with some awful pitching, which isn’t new to this season of a World Series champion falling apart.

Brett Gardner hit a home run in the sixth inning off of Craig Breslow, only his 15th of the season. Despite not being shy to use his power, he has more triples in his career than home runs. Gardner hitting the home run capped off a four-run comeback from the Yankees, beginning with Chase Headley single RBI, Stephen Drew hitting a two-RBI single and then to Gardner, as the Red Sox couldn’t score again after David Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the fourth.

This was a game of changed teams. The Yankees had Drew, another former Red Sox player, finish with 2-for-4 and four RBIs. Esmil Rogers picked up the win with three innings in which he didn’t allow any hits striking out three. Rogers became the 29th relief pitcher the Yankees have used this season, a new franchise record. David Phelps who started didn’t even finish the third inning, giving up six hits and five runs.

The Red Sox had their usual pitching problems, this time with Clay Buchholz, giving up eight hits and seven runs in five innings. Breslow didn’t do much better coming on for him and was “rewarded” with the loss, falling to 2-3 this season. Buchholz’ ERA is at 6.20 and for Breslow it rose to 4.95 after giving up that home run in his single relief inning, with the Red Sox falling to 49-62, the third worst record in the American League.

The Yankees keep making changes to stay in the picture. Catching up with the Blue Jays and Orioles seems difficult, but they’re only 1.5 games behind Toronto and five behind Baltimore. They’re tied with the Royals for the chase after the Wild Card spot, sitting 1.5 games behind both the Blue Jays and the Angels, hoping that once everything settles from all their changes, they can build the kind of streak that puts them in the postseason, as if nothing has changed.

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