MINNEAPOLIS — Out on the right-field scoreboard was motivation: Tor 4, Bal 0 and then the “F” went up signaling a final score.
The Blue Jays had beaten the Orioles. Suddenly, the Yankees had the potential for the rarest of commodities for them this September — breathing room. But they just can’t separate. Not in games. So not in the standings.
We will focus on a bottom of the seventh yesterday when Boone Logan imploded and the Twins scored four runs to create what was a 5-4 victory that kept the Yankees from opening a 2 1⁄2-game lead in the AL East with a week left.
But let’s backtrack a bit. The Twins started Esmerling Vasquez. He was 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in his first four career starts as he attempts the transition to the rotation for a woeful Minnesota team. Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer off Vasquez. It was the only two runs the Yankees mustered in six innings against the righty.
They were 2-for-10 with men on base off Vasquez. That included two strikeouts — one against Alex Rodriguez, the other Raul Ibanez — on full-count pitches with runners going that led to caught-stealing double plays. The Yankees are 5-for-26 in the first two games of this series with men on base and nine of their 10 runs — all but an RBI groundout by Robinson Cano — have scored via homers.
So rather than some margin for error last night when Phil Hughes, brilliant for six innings, began to have difficulty, the Yankees led only 3-1 going in the bottom of the seventh. It felt like a repeat of a repeat of a repeat.
The Yankees began to lose what was a 10-game lead on July 19. They have played 63 games since then. Fifty (79.4 percent) have been decided by three or fewer runs. That includes the last 14 straight, the Yankees’ longest such streak in 27 years. Close game plus close division race have compelled manager Joe Girardi to turn to his best relievers over and over.
“I would say that [the close games are wearing out the pen] is a fair assessment,” Russell Martin said. “We can use a few blowouts so can get our guys some rest. They can use a few days where we score more than enough runs.”
It felt like that day had come Monday when the Yankees took a 6-0 lead on Minnesota. Because Logan had been used the three previous days, Girardi had put him on ice. But the Yankees, as has become too familiar, could not control a game and Girardi deployed Chamberlain and David Robertson and warmed up Rafael Soriano in what became a 6-3 triumph — a loss within a win.
Logan leads the AL in not only appearances (77) for seasons, but September (16), Robertson (14) is second and Chamberlain (12) is tied for third. It has had a withering effect on the Yankees’ main setup men and also the heavily used Soriano.
Logan did not have his good slider yesterday. Girardi thought it could be because of the workload. Logan insisted September has been “my strongest month.”
Either way, he was in yet another game and Chamberlain and Robertson warmed up. A too common scene for two months now.
Girardi lifted Hughes with the bases loaded, two outs and the Yankees up 3-1 in the seventh. The score from Camden Yards was already final. The Yankees were seven outs from a 2 1⁄2-game lead, which would feel like Everest considering that from Sept. 3-Sept. 23 the lead was never larger than one game — the longest stretch it was that close between first- and second-place teams since the New York Giants held off Ibanez’s Boston Beaneaters to win the NL pennant in 1889.
Hughes wanted to stay in. But there were four straight lefties due up, starting with Denard Span, who was 0-for-5 in his career off Logan. But Logan bounced his first slider and Martin said he failed “Catching 101, get your glove down.” Martin blamed himself for the run-scoring wild pitch and giving the Twins momentum.
Nevertheless, the Yankees still had a one-run edge and Logan described the matchup with Span as “gold,” saying “that should be an easy out.” But he hung a slider and Span smacked a two-run double. Joe Mauer would add an RBI single.
So much for going three up in the loss column, creating some real distance with so little season left. The Yankees can’t open up in games and so they still are unable to open up in the standings.
joel.sherman@nypost.com