BOSTON — At a time when they are needed the most, Brett Gardner vanished Friday and Alex Rodriguez could require a time out.
Gardner is likely done for the remainder of the regular season because of a strained left oblique muscle and Yankees manager Joe Girardi is worried about Rodriguez’s balky left hamstring that didn’t allow him to score from first on a double to deep right-center field during Friday night’s killer 8-4 loss to the Red Sox in front of 37,542 at Fenway Park.
“I am not sure what I have [Saturday]. It’s a concern,’’ admitted Girardi, who used Rodriguez (0-for-3) as the designated hitter for the third straight game. “He must not feel like he can really push it.’’
Rodriguez is hoping he can return to third base Tuesday night in Toronto after the Yankees have a day off Monday.
While the year-long injury problems that began in January when Rodriguez underwent hip surgery have obviously extracted a toll, an injured and exhausted bullpen was the reason the Yankees fell two games behind the Rays in the chase for the second AL wild-card ticket.
The Rays also hold a three-game lead over the Yankees in the loss column with 14 games remaining. If reliever Boone Logan’s elbow were healthy, he would have been summoned to face David Ortiz in the seventh instead of Cesar Cabral, who made his fourth big league appearance and hit Ortiz with a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs.
A fan was led out of Fenway for throwing a baseball at Cabral after he drilled Ortiz. If Girardi didn’t need to take it easy on Shawn Kelley’s right arm that acted up last week, he — not struggling rookie Preston Claiborne — would have been facing Jonny Gomes.
Claiborne walked Gomes to load the bases, struck out Daniel Nava and gave up a grand slam to Jarrod Saltalamacchia that busted a 4-4 tie.
“It hurts bad, I let the guys down,’’ Claiborne said. “It’s on me.’’
After Hiroki Kuroda drove the Yankees into a 4-0 ditch in the first inning, he didn’t allow a run across the next five frames. Since Shane Victorino, who singled off Kuroda to start the seventh, scored on Saltalamacchia’s slam, Kuroda was saddled with the loss. He is 11-11 and has one win in his last nine starts.
Brendan Ryan’s homer in the third, Lyle Overbay’s sacrifice fly in the sixth and Robinson Cano’s two-run double in the seventh when Rodriguez chugged to third tied the score 4-4.
The knot didn’t last long and started to come untied with Victorino’s single.
“I think the young man is learning on the job,’’ Girardi said of Claiborne, who has appeared in 41 games. “Lately he has struggled. We have had other relievers do that and bounce back. That is what he needs to do.’’
Who knows when Logan’s hinge will allow him to pitch again. Kelley was out five days recently with a tender elbow. Girardi wasn’t bringing David Robertson, who worked the previous two games, into the seventh when he knew Mariano Rivera, who threw in four of the previous five games and three in a row, wasn’t available in the eighth or ninth.
So, for all the Yankees’ finances and all their stars, in a critical game in the middle of the final month, Girardi was left with Cabral and Claiborne against the best team in the American League.
“They are doing the best they can,’’ Rodriguez said of the not-ready-for-prime-time relievers.
Friday night, it wasn’t nearly enough.