Nova Loses 3rd Straight Start; Yankees Fall to Red Sox, 5

But the big hits that have been so much a part of the Yankees’ solid play of late eluded A-Rod this time in a 5-3 loss to the Red Sox in front of 38,047 at Fenway Park.

“Having played baseball most of my life, you gotta keep your eye on the game”, said one fan.

“To me, he went out and pitched like the majority of his (previous) starts, ” said Farrell.

New York ranks 2nd in scoring (4.61 rpg), 16th in hitting (.253) and 3rd in homers (114), while on the mound they are 20th in ERA (3.96) and 14th in WHIP (1.26).

NOTES: New York had won five games in a row at Fenway Park entering Saturday.

“I felt pretty good the way I threw my cutter today”, he said. He was ranked by Baseball America as the organization’s fifth-best prospect before the season, ranking behind Rodriguez, Blake Swihart and Rusney Castillo, who have all made their major-league debuts, and lefty Henry Owens.

The Yankees would score another on a Jacoby Ellsbury home run, before the Red Sox put the game out of reach in the seventh.

Ramirez launched a two-run homer into the Red Sox’s bullpen Saturday to give Boston a 3-1 lead. He ended up pitching more to his road numbers, allowing two runs and five hits in 61/3 innings.

With a victory tomorrow afternoon, Boston can draw within 4.5 games of first place in the division despite a miserable 17-26 record against AL East teams.

In the words of Yankee legend Yogi Berra, it was deja vu all over again for New York starting game two of the series.

In the top of the eight, Gardner’s double scored Ellsbury. Sadly, they got the tying run on in the ninth with a two-out double by Chris Young, but Brian McCann’s towering fly ball went to no man’s land and was caught in that dreaded triangle by Betts.

The Yankees had beaten the Red Sox five straight times, including a 5-1 win Friday.

“I wasn’t nervous at all”, he joked.

Well, the second game of this three-game series was not as fun as the first. “It was quite an experience, growing up a sports fan in a sports family”. I’m just going to pay as hard as I can and help the Yankees win a game.

Rodriguez’s next hit will tie him with Rafeal Palmeiro for 24th all-time. Warren walked Brock Holt and gave up a shift-aided single by Xander Bogaerts, adding another run to Boston’s lead.

Clay Buchholz dodged a bullet with news of his elbow injury – a flexor strain, not a ligament tear that would require Tommy John surgery – yesterday.

Rookie left-hander Brian Johnson was promoted from Triple-A Pawtucket to take Buchholz’s place on the roster.