BOSTON _ Aroldis Chapman unraveled in Friday's ninth inning, and the Yankees opened the second half with a devastating loss against their ancient rivals.
After yielding the tying run, Chapman walked Andrew Benintendi with the bases loaded, handing the Red Sox a 5-4 victory before 37,570 standing, screaming fans at Fenway Park.
This time the Yankees bullpen had excelled, stitching together four scoreless innings until Chapman arrived to protect a 4-3 lead in the ninth. It resulted in the Yankees' 18th blown save of the year.
Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia opened the ninth with infield singles, then pulled off a double steal.
Joe Girardi brought the infield in and second baseman Ronald Torreyes committed his second error of the game when he couldn't handle Xander Bogaerts' hot one-hop grounder hit right at him, plating the tying run.
Hanley Ramirez was walked intentionally before Benintendi walked on a 3-and-1 count to end it.
Whereas Aaron Judge was the show at Monday night's Home Run Derby, smashing his way to a victory and stamping his name on a national stage, Gary Sanchez nearly powered the Yanks on Friday night.
Sanchez's tape-measure shot gave the Yanks a 4-3 lead in the fifth.
After lefty starter Jordan Montgomery yielded three runs in four innings, the tandem of Chad Green, Adam Warren and Dellin Betances held serve through the eighth.
With the Yankees trailing 3-1 entering the fifth, Chase Headley opened with a double to left and scored on Brett Gardner's line single to right.
But the Yanks (45-42) fell to 4.5 games behind AL East-leading Boston (51-39).
Batting second in the order, Sanchez (2-for-4, 3 RBI) followed with a mammoth two-run shot off lefty starter Drew Pomeranz (9-5) that cleared the Green Monster seats � giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead.
On to protect that lead, Green struck out five of the six batters he faced in two perfect innings.
Hanley Ramirez, who hit a two-run homer off Montgomery, clubbed a single off the Monster against Warren, putting runners at the corners in the seventh. But Warren got the next batter, pinch-hitter Benintendi, to fly out to deep center, ending the inning.
Betances had struggled mightily to end the first half, but reverted to All-Star form, striking out the side around a hit batsman.
All told, it was not how the Yankees wanted to open a 10-day, 11-game road trip to start the second half _ a period that borders close to the July 31 trade deadline. And GM Brian Cashman has categorized the Yanks as "careful buyers" in the market for pitching.
Before the game, the club announced that Michael Pineda was out for the season, likely headed for Tommy John surgery.
"You want to either be in first place or in striking distance around the deadline, so the club feels (that) 'Hey, we've got a shot, let's go do this or that," Girardi said before the game. "So, I do think there's some more importance to these games."
Sanchez drove in the Yanks' first run with a single in Friday night's third inning, after Headley and Torreyes opened the frame with singles.
After Tampa Bay's Logan Morrison had questioned Sanchez's selection to the Home Run Derby, with 13 homers at the break (Sanchez missed a month due to a biceps tear), the Yanks' slugging catcher upset Miami's Giancarlo Stanton in the first round at Marlins Park.
Minnesota's Miguel Sano eliminated Sanchez in the second round, while Judge advanced after a tight first-round battle with Miami's Justin Bour and powered his way through the finals over Sano.
"Quite impressive. I had some kids in my house jumping up and down," Girardi said before the game. "It was kind of neat to see a couple of your players in there doing really well."
Girardi asked Judge about the experience and the slugger said he was "pretty fatigued" after the first round, but there were enough breaks in between.
Girardi and the Yankees also felt good for batting practice pitcher Danilo Valiente, who threw to both Sanchez and Judge. "The experience for Danilo chokes us all up a bit too because we know his story and we know how hard he's worked and how much the guys appreciate what he's done," Girardi said.
