Mother Nature has joined the list of people the Yankees can’t beat.
Last night at Yankee Stadium, rain delayed the start of the Red Sox game for 45 minutes. In the top of the sixth, it was halted for 37 minutes. Four minutes after it was re-started at 11:21, it was stopped again. Finally, after a 45-minute delay it was called.
When it ended, the hitting challenged Yankees drowned in a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox in 5 ½ innings that drew 43,613 customers.
The rain chased starters Clay Buchholz and Hiroki Kuroda, and Buchholz’ exit gave the Yankees a chance after the right-hander dominated them across five innings in which they didn’t get a runner past first.
However, the rain caused the game to be called so the Yankees never got a chance to hit against the Red Sox bullpen.
After getting swept in four Subway Series games by the Mets that extended the season-long losing streak to five, the Yankees opened a three-game series with their AL East blood rivals with a win fueled by a solid pitching effort by CC Sabathia.
The thinking was the victory would get the Yankees out of the doldrums, but they open a three-game series against the Indians tonight at the Stadium having dropped seven out of eight.
The biggest reason has been a lack of runs. In the past eight games the Yankees have scored 15 runs. Four times they have been limited to a run and last night they didn’t score in five innings.
Buchholz, who hadn’t worked since May 22 because of an irritated right AC joint, improved to 8-0.He allowed two hits, a walk and fanned four.
Kuroda, the Yankees’ best starter in the first two months, took the loss and is 6-4. In 5 1/3 innings, he gave up three runs and eight hits.
Jose Iglesias and David Ortiz homered off Kuroda.
The Yankees are 2-4 against the Red Sox and three games behind them in the AL East. That’s the largest deficit since they were three back on April 29.
george.king@nypost.com