MLB

Whitley shelled as Yankees lose ugly one to Red Sox

The Yankees sit just two games behind the Blue Jays for the lead in the American League East, but you’d never know it over the last week.

After a second straight loss to the Red Sox — Sunday’s in much less dramatic fashion in an 8-5 snoozefest — the Yankees have now dropped six of eight and seemingly have more questions than answers in their rotation.

“We’re all going through our issues, there’s no doubt about it, in this division,” Joe Girardi said. “It’s probably gonna come down to the end and who handles injuries the best.”

Pleasant surprises such as Sunday’s starter, Chase Whitley, seem to be wearing down. He suffered his second consecutive clunker as his feel-good story has come to a screeching halt.

Following an eight-run fiasco in Toronto, the right-hander lasted just four-plus innings, and while he gave up just one run as he staggered through the first two innings with the help of a pair of double plays, his good fortune came to an end in the third.

With two on and one out, the right-hander left an 0-1 pitch over the inside part of the plate and David Ortiz didn’t miss, sending a towering home run — the 450th of his career — deep into the right-field bleachers for a 4-0 lead.

Whitley made it through the fourth, but a four-pitch walk to Jackie Bradley Jr. leading off the fifth ended his night.

“I made some mistakes,” Whitley (3-2) said. “You can’t do that. It’s frustrating. The pitch to Ortiz obviously and the walk to Bradley were unacceptable. … I paid for it.”

Yankees pitchers issued eight walks overall, so the Red Sox survived a lackluster effort from John Lackey (9-5).

The Boston starter, who surrendered four homers in a loss in The Bronx in April, allowed the Yankees back into the game with two more home runs in the fourth.

Mark Teixeira led off with his 15th homer of the season. Following a Brian McCann groundout, the struggling Carlos Beltran added his eighth to make it 4-3.

In what turned out to be a recurring theme on Sunday, the Yankees almost immediately allowed the Red Sox to pad their lead again.

After coming in for Whitley in the fifth, Shawn Kelley only made things worse, walking the bases loaded before Dustin Pedroia’s bloop single to right scored two and made it 6-3.

Adding to the fire was the next reliever, David Huff, who, with runners on the corners, got Pedroia caught in a rundown. While Pedroia was eventually nailed at first, Daniel Nava was able to score from third to make it 7-3.

The Yankees came back with two more runs in the bottom of the inning. Ichiro Suzuki started the rally with a line drive to right that Mookie Betts, in his major league debut, misplayed into a triple. Brett Gardner followed by ripping a double to right.

Derek Jeter looked to get Lackey into even more trouble with another grounder to the right side of the infield that seemed destined for right field. Instead, Pedroia made a diving stop and threw out Jeter at first.

Jacoby Ellsbury then tapped one back to Lackey, allowing Gardner to score. Teixeira nearly got the Yankees a run closer, but his two-out fly ball only reached the track in right.

Huff managed to load the bases without getting any outs in the sixth before Dellin Betances mercifully came in to restore order. He fanned Nava on three pitches before Pedroia drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Betances got Ortiz to ground out to end the inning.

The Yankees had a chance to get closer again in the sixth, but Beltran was thrown out at the plate by Bradley.