BOSTON — Adam Warren stuffed the defeat into his luggage because he surrendered a laser home run to Mike Napoli that landed in the center-field seats.
Yet the blame for the Yankees’ 8-7 loss to the Red Sox in 11 innings that was witnessed by 38,138 — Fenway Park’s largest of the season — belonged to CC Sabathia.
“We scored seven runs — not being able to win that game is unacceptable,’’ said Sabathia, who was torched for seven runs and nine hits (two homers) in five-plus innings. “I sucked. I wish I had an excuse. It sucks, it’s embarrassing. I will try and work through it and figure out how to stop hurting the team and start helping.’’
The loss dropped the Yankees seven games behind the AL East-leading Red Sox, who took two of three in the series.
Staked to a 3-0 lead after two innings, Sabathia gave up four in the third when Napoli hit a three-run homer and Dustin Pedroia drove in a run. Jonny Gomes homered off Sabathia to start the fifth to give the hosts a 7-4 advantage.
The Yankees chipped away with two runs in the sixth and two more in seventh to tie the score, 7-7, and allow Sabathia to avoid a loss.
Still, that did very little to mollify Sabathia, who is 0-1 with a 10.00 ERA and has given up 17 hits in nine innings across his last two starts.
“I have to make better pitches,’’ Sabathia said.
The lefty, who turned 33 yesterday, was hurt by consecutive 1-2 pitches in the third to David Ortiz, who singled to center, and Napoli, who hit a 93-mph fastball deep into the seats on top of the Green Monster.
Sabathia, whose ERA is at a very chubby 4.37, recalled struggling in 2008 with Cleveland. He said it turned around when he was dealt to Milwaukee and benefitted from a change of scenery. That, of course, isn’t going to happen again.
Nor can the recent outings continue if the Yankees want to remain relevant in the AL East race and wild-card picture, something many don’t expect to happen.
Until Warren’s 3-2 pitch to Napoli ended the four-hour and 46-minute contest, the Yankees’ bullpen held the Red Sox without a run.
Preston Claiborne, Boone Logan and David Robertson worked one scoreless frame each. Shawn Kelley hurled the ninth and 10th and retired all six batters, fanning the final five. Warren followed Kelley and got Pedroia to fly out and Ortiz to ground out in the 11th.
“One swing can do it,’’ Napoli said. “I got a pitch to drive and I hit it out.’’
Since Sabathia had surgery last October to remove a small bone spur in the left elbow, his health has been mentioned as a cause for the pedestrian season he is experiencing. However, Sabathia said there are no physical woes.
Could 12-plus big league seasons be catching up with him? Early this year, he was badgered about declining velocity. But last night his fastball was 94-95 mph in the early innings.
“It’s strange. He has been so good for so long, it’s kind of strange,’’ Joe Girardi said of Sabathia’s struggles. “He was missing with the fastballs. I didn’t think he had good command of it and left balls up. He has to get straightened out, that’s the bottom line.’’
george.king@nypost.com