NEW YORK _ The boos rained down on the Yankee Stadium field as Dellin Betances slowly walked back to the Yankees' dugout.
Betances and the Yankees had been two outs away from a victory. That changed within the span of two batters in the top of the ninth.
First came a game-tying two-run home run off the bat of Victor Martinez. The very next batter, Niko Goodrum, then hit a game-winning, solo home run that stayed just inside the right-field foul pole.
Just like that, the Yankees were on their way to a deflating, 8-7, loss to the Detroit Tigers before 37,195 fans at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.
With seven games against the White Sox and Tigers, this homestand was supposed to give the Yankees a chance to pick up some wins against two of the worst teams in the American League.
Instead they have dropped three of the first four games.
Betances' implosion also wasted a night in which Giancarlo Stanton hit his 300th career home run and Luke Voit hit a two-run homer in the seventh that gave the Yankees a two-run lead.
Gleyber Torres also had a two-run home run for the Yankees in the fourth.
Stanton's home run, which gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead, ended what's been somewhat of a long wait for the milestone. He had gone 10 games without a homer. In that stretch, he was batting just .158.
But the wait ended Thursday with a blistering shot into the right-field stands off Tigers starter Francisco Liriano.
Stanton needed 1,119 games to reach that mark, the fifth fewest in major league history.
While the Yankees have endured injuries to some of their key players, including Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius, Stanton has not only stayed off the disabled list, but he's lifted their lineup all year.
Not that he's been completely healthy.
Stanton has been battling a tight hamstring for the last month, which Boone has managed by giving Stanton plenty of starts as the Yankees' designated hitter.
Still, Thursday was Stanton's 83rd consecutive game. Boone can't afford to keep him out of the lineup, although Stanton could be close to getting some rest.
"There is a day off in his future and that's something that he as much as anyone that I'm constantly checking in with, just to see where he's at physically," Boone said. "That day for him is coming. It's just with us being as beat up as we are, it's a little tough to get your horses days right now. We've certainly leaned on him heavily, but it's something we constantly try and do what's best for the club and the individual."
Entering Thursday, J.A. Happ had been stellar since being traded to the Yankees, going 5-0 with a 2.37 ERA in five starts.
That run of success ended Thursday, although it came against a team he's had trouble with all season.
Happ pitched against the Tigers twice previously this year _ both times when he was still with the Blue Jays _ and allowed a combined 11 runs on 15 hits in 10 2/3 innings.
Before Thursday's game, Boone said one of the things that has impressed him about Happ is Happ's ability to "self-correct" on the mound.
Happ couldn't do that this time, though, allowing five runs (four earned) in 4 1/3 innings.
Detroit jumped on him immediately with Jeimer Candelario hitting a lead-off home run.
The Yankees kept getting Happ the lead again but he continued to give it away.
After Stanton's homer gave the Yankees the lead in the third, Happ surrendered a two-run shot to Ronny Rodriguez in the fourth.
Torres hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, but Happ yielded a two-run blast to Victor Martinez in the fifth to give Detroit a 5-4 lead.
The Yankees tied the game on a Tigers error in the fifth.
