MINNEAPOLIS — Into the heat of an ultra-tight AL East pennant race the Yankees introduced Blown Logan last night at Target Field.
Based on a very small sample of success against Denard Span, manager Joe Girardi summoned Boone Logan with the bases loaded, two outs and the Yankees leading by two runs.
One wild pitch and two misbehaving sliders and the Yankees turned a victory into a crushing, 5-4 defeat to the Twins that was witnessed by 33,346.
“We had Boone and he had done so well against Span,’’ Girardi said of the lefty Logan against the left-handed hitting Span, who was 0-for-4 against Logan.
Not this time. Span laced a flat 3-2 slider to right-center for a two-run double, and after Ben Revere walked Joe Mauer took advantage of another bad slider to deliver an RBI single that put the Twins up 5-3.
“[My slider] wasn’t sharp tonight,’’ Logan said. “I was trying to make do with what I had. I tried to battle through it. It was a bad game. I am upset we lost and I gave up three runs. No excuse, I didn’t have good stuff. I didn’t have it tonight.’’
Because the second-place Orioles lost 4-0 to the moribund Blue Jays, the Yankees missed a chance to up their AL East lead to 2 1⁄3 games with eight remaining. Their magic number to win the division title is seven.
“You know it’s in front of you,’’ Girardi said of the Blue Jays-Orioles score beaming in from the scoreboard in right-center. “You have an opportunity to pick up a game, but you have to move on.’’
As always there was more blame to go around than what landed on Logan’s shoulders. Phil Hughes left Logan with three runners on base thanks to two singles and a walk, and the Yankees batted once with a runner in scoring position.
Nick Swisher’s third homer in three games was a two-run poke in the fourth and Russell Martin homered in the seventh for a 3-0 lead. Hughes gave up a run in the fourth and watched the lead vanish in the seventh when the three runners he left for Logan scored. Andruw Jones delivered a pinch-hit homer off hard-throwing Glen Perkins in the ninth to make it a one-run defeat.
Martin shouldered the blame for the seventh-inning rally that killed the Yankees.
“It starts with me, not blocking that ball,’’ Martin said of Logan’s first pitch to Span that hit the plate, got by Martin, scored Ryan Doumit and sent Chris Parmelee to third and Jamey Carroll to second. “If I get my glove down I should block it. That changed the inning.’’
Nevertheless, the Yankees led by a run and Logan had Span at the plate.
“I had a lefty in the box and that’s gold,’’ said Logan who turned the gold to rusted aluminum.
Logan’s flush job saddled Hughes (16-13) with the loss, but Hughes wasn’t as a hard-luck loser as the numbers indicate. Nor was he ready to second-guess Girardi for lifting him.
“It’s tough. I thought I was throwing the ball well. I do what I am told,’’ said Hughes, who gave up four runs and six hits in 6 1⁄3 innings. “It was tough. That was a big game to win.’’
A one-game difference in the standings is a lot larger this late in the season, and when a team fails to cash in on the gift supplied by a team such as the Blue Jays delivers, it can be very costly. We will know within a week what the price was on last night’s missed opportunity.
george.king@nypost.com