Yankees 5, Red Sox 8: Whitley struggles as Yankees drop series

On a lot of days, the five runs the Yankees' lineup put up would be good. (Like yesterday.) Not today. Chase Whitley got chased from the game in the fifth inning, leaving the Yankees in a hole they wouldn't get out of. The lineup mounted a couple rallies, but all fell short every time as the Red Sox beat the Yankees 8-5.

After threatening in the first inning, the Red Sox opened the scoring in the top of the second. Mike Napoli led off the inning with a double. A A.J. Pierzynski fly out was good enough to move Napoli over to third. Stephen Drew then singled to score Napoli, giving the Red Sox the lead. Whitley then got Mookie Betts to ground into a double play to end the threat.

An inning later, the Red Sox added more. With one out in the inning, Brock Holt drew a walk and moved to third two batters later when Dustin Pedroia singled. David Ortiz came up next and he hit a three-run home run to put Boston up 4-0.

The Yankees would get on the board in the bottom half of the third. With one out, Ichiro Suzuki reached first after Holt threw away a ground ball. Brett Gardner then grounded out, moving Ichiro to third. That brought Derek Jeter to the plate. Jeter worked a 145-pitch at bat (roughly) against John Lackey before singling to drive home Ichiro. That made it 4-1.

The next inning, the Yankees cut into the Boston lead further. Mark Teixeira led off the fourth with a solo home run to make it 4-2. Two batters later, Carlos Beltran also hit a solo home run, making it 4-3.

After Whitley walked Jackie Bradley Jr. to start the fifth, he would be taken out. Whitley went just four innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and two walks. This start wasn't as disastrous as his last, but it still wasn't good.

Shawn Kelley came in for Whitley and that went badly. Kelley walked to first two batters he faced, loading the bases for Pedroia. Pedroia blooped a single into right field, scoring two. That would be it for Kelley as David Huff came in. Huff got Ortiz to pop up for the first out of the inning, keeping the runner at third. Huff then picked off Pedroia at second, but Pedroia stayed in the rundown long enough for a run to score from third. Huff eventually got out of it, but the score was now 7-3.

In the bottom of the fifth: more runs! Ichiro led off the inning with a triple after Betts' dive came up a few feet short. Gardner then doubled to drive in Ichiro. A Jeter ground out moved Gardner to third and a Ellsbury ground out scored Gardner to make it 7-5.

Huff then proceeded to load the bases to start the sixth. With no one out, Dellin Betances came into the game. Betances struck out Daniel Nava for out number one. Pedroia then flew out, but it was deep enough to score a run and make it 8-5. Betances then got Ortiz to ground out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees had a chance to score another run, but a bad send by third base coach Rob Thomson led to Beltran being thrown out at the plate. Betances pitched a scoreless seventh inning, followed by a 1-2-3 eighth by Matt Thornton.

Jose Ramirez pitched a scoreless inning to send the game to the bottom of the ninth with the Yankees down three. However, the Yankee lineup would go down in order in the ninth, giving the Red Sox an 8-5 win.

Next up for the Yankees will be the Rays, who come to New York for a series starting tomorrow. The series-opener will be tomorrow at 7:05 eastern. The starters will be David Phelps and Chris Archer.

Box score.