Brett Gardner’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the New York Yankees a 5-4 walk-off win over the Boston Red Sox in front of 54,922 fans at Yankee Stadium. The win gave the Yankees a split of the 4-game series but the Red Sox still lead the season series 5-4.

The loss puts the Red Sox (52-39) 7 games behind the Rays (55-32) in the loss column and 5 games out of first place while the Yankees (47-42) sit 9 games out of first in the AL East.

Jonathan Papelbon came out for the Boston Red Sox in the 10th inning looking to keep the game tied at 4. Robinson Cano led off the inning with a single and went to second on a Melky Cabrera sacrifice bunt. Wilson Betemit came into pinch-hit for Jose Molina and was struck out by Papelbon. Paps then got ahead of Gardner 0-2 before Gardner fouled off two pitches. After 2 balls thrown by Paps, Gardner fouled off a pitch before hitting a single up the middle that went off the glove of Alex Cora scoring Cano from second.

Tim Wakefield started for the Red Sox tonight and did his job again as left the game after 6 1/3 innings with a 4-2 lead. Unfortunately for him, Javier Lopez couldn’t hold the lead. Wake gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk while fanning 5. Lopez gave up 2 hits and a run in 1/3 of an inning.

Manny Delcarmen worked 1 1/3 innings striking out 2 while Hideki Okajima worked a perfect inning striking out 1.

Kevin Youkilis and Sean Casey led the way with 2 hits for the Red Sox. Dustin Pedroia had a hit and 2 RBIs while Kevin Cash had a hit and an RBI. Julio Lugo had the other hit for the visiting nine.

Alex Rodriguez got the Yankees on the scoreboard first when he led off the 2nd inning with a line drive home run down the line.

Joba Chamberlain started for the Yankees and looked pretty good as he only allowed a walk to J.D. Drew in the first 4 innings of the game. He ran into some trouble in the 5th inning though.

Kevin Youkilis led off with a single and went to third on a Casey single. Chamberlain then walked Coco Crisp to load up the bases for Julio Lugo. Youk came into score when Chamberlain uncorked a wild pitch. Joba rebounded to strike out Lugo and Cash before walking Jacoby Ellsbury to reload the bases. Pedroia went the other way with single that scored Casey and Crisp to put the Red Sox up 3-1. Chamberlain struck out Drew to end the inning.

There was a little bit of drama between Youk and Joba in the 6th inning when Joba threw a pitch behind Youk prompting a stare down followed by some words by Youk to the umpire. It appeared that Joba may have been upset for the hard slide Youk had when he scored on the wild pitch. Nothing else came of it though as Youk worked a walk and then was retired when Casey hit into an inning-ending 3-6-3 double play.

Gardner picked up his second MLB hit when he led off the 6th with a single and then stole second base. He came around to score on a Derek Jeter single to cut the lead to 3-2. With Jerer on first, Wakefield’s pick-off attempt ended up in right field allowing Jeter to get to second. Wake got out of the inning though as Lugo made a great catch on a Bobby Abreu liner and then threw to Pedroia at second to double-off Jeter.

The Red Sox added a run in the 7th when Lugo reached on an infield single off of Dave Robertson and went to second on a Jeter throwing error. He came around to score on Cash’s double to make it 4-2.

Wakefield was still on the hill in the bottom of the 7th and allowed a lead-off single to ARod. He then got Giambi to fly out to right and then Terry Francona went to the bullpen for Lopez. He would give up a single to Jorge Posada and then a bases clearing triple to Cano that tied the game at 4. His night ended after he got Melky Cabrera to ground into a fielder’s choice. Delcarmen came in and struck out Molina to end the inning but the damage was done.

Hopefully the Red Sox will get back to their winning ways at Fenway Park tomorrow night when the red-hot Minnesota Twins come calling. Daisuke Matsuzaka will be looking for his 10th win and hopefully will pitch a lot better than he has of late.

Notes and musings:

Red Sox @ Yankees 7.06.08 boxscore

Manny Ramirez was hit by 3 pitches on Saturday to tie a single game major league record accomplished on numerous occasions, the last by Philadelphia’s Chase Utley on April 8, 2008.

Red Sox tied their club record with 4 hit by pitches for batters on Saturday

With Saturday’s 2-1 loss, the Red Sox are 11-15 in games decided by one run.

The Red Sox lead the A.L. with a .354 on-base percentage and 337 walks and ranks 2nd in hits (861), runs (449), doubles (185), total bases (1380), extra base hits (301), and slugging (.448).

Dustin Pedroia increased his hitting streak to 14 games, tying his career high. He also has now hit in his last 18 games on the road.

Mike Lowell saw his 4-game hitting streak come to an end as did Jacoby Ellsbury to his 3-gamer.

ARod’s home run was the 536th of his career and tied him with Mickey Mantle for 13th all-time.