When Andy Pettitte exited Friday night’s game against the Red Sox, the veteran lefty had to believe his personal winning streak was going to stretch to four straight.
After all, the Yankees led by five runs and the bullpen, even without Mariano Rivera and David Robertson, was only responsible for nine outs.
Instead, Phil Hughes, Boone Logan, Preston Claiborne and Joba Chamberlain turned a five-run lead into a 12-8 loss.
“He was done,’’ manager Joe Girardi said when asked if he toyed with sending Pettitte out for the seventh.
In six frames, Pettitte allowed three runs and five hits. In his last four starts, Pettitte is 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA.
“That’s a tough loss, that’s for sure,’’ Pettitte said.
It’s the smallest of samples, but lefty reliever Cesar Cabral might get more opportunities to help.
“It looks like he has been pretty tough on left-handed hitters with his breaking ball,’’ Girardi said of Cabral, who has appeared in two games and fanned all three left-handed hitters he faced. “He probably will get more chances based on what he has done so far.’’
Cabral, 24, missed all of 2012 due to a fractured elbow and appeared in 33 minor league games this season.
Jacoby Ellsbury wasn’t in the Red Sox lineup due to a right foot problem. Boston’s leadoff hitter and center fielder is likely to return Saturday.
Shane Victorino replaced Ellsbury on top of the order and in center and hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning that snapped an 8-8 tie. …
The Yankees are 35-2 at home when leading by at least two runs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
If Kevin Youkilis returns from June back surgery, it likely won’t be until the final week of the season, and that might be a stretch.
“It’s been 11 weeks since the surgery and the earliest it would be 12 weeks, and I’m not making that one,’’ Youkilis said after a tee-and-toss session Friday at Yankee Stadium. He also threw from 60 feet. “Hopefully, I make it the last week.’’
Youkilis has played in 28 games this year and will leave for the minor league complex in Tampa on Monday, when the Yankees begin a 10-game road trip in Baltimore.
Youkilis, making $12 million this season, didn’t address whether he was looking forward to playing in 2014, when he will be 35.
“I haven’t thought about next year,’’ said Youkilis, who could fit into the Yankees’ plans because of Alex Rodriguez pending suspension.
Right-handed reliever Matt Daley, a Queens native who attended Garden City High School and lives in Hoboken, was added to the active roster Friday night and pitched the ninth.
Daley, who missed all of last year due to rotator cuff surgery, pitched in Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A this year in the Yankees’ system. He has 92 big league relief appearances from 2009 to 2011 with the Rockies.
“To pitch in this stadium is a little bit more than other places,’’ said Daley, who grew up a Mets fan in a house full of Yankees fans.
Daley is the 53rd player used by the Yankees this season, a franchise record. … Zoilo Almonte’s rehab assignment ended Friday night for Double-A Trenton, and it’s possible the switch-hitting outfielder will join the Yankees Saturday.