http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/sports/baseball/a-crucial-yankee-victory-only-three-back-gone.html 2016-09-16 07:03:22 A Crucial Yankee Victory ... Only Three Back ... . Gone. Hanley Ramirez blasted a three-run home run off Yankees closer Dellin Betances in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday, as the Boston Red Sox delivered a crushing 7-5 defeat to the Yankees. === BOSTON — Hanley Ramirez blasted a three-run home run off As Ramirez danced around the bases and the Red Sox poured out of the dugout to wait for him at home plate, Betances and the rest of his teammates walked off the field toward the third-base dugout, their psyches as well as their playoff hopes dealt a devastating blow. The Yankees had appeared to be cruising toward a win on Thursday that would have brought them within three games of the Red Sox in the American League East and closer to a playoff berth. Masahiro Tanaka had stymied the Red Sox through seven innings, and though he had thrown a modest 93 pitches, Manager Joe Girardi felt secure in turning over the final two innings to his bullpen with a 5-1 lead. But David Ortiz hit a solo homer off Adam Warren to narrow the gap in the eighth inning, and then the Red Sox pounced on Betances in the ninth. Tommy Layne began the ninth and struck out Aaron Hill, but Blake Parker then came on, and his fastball nicked the helmet of pinch-hitter Chris Young. Girardi then summoned Betances, who had given up the winning runs in Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Betances walked Dustin Pedroia, and then on Xander Bogaerts’s tapper in front of the mound, Betances tossed the ball home to get Young at the plate for the second out. The reprieve, though, was brief. Ortiz singled to center, scoring Pedroia, and Mookie Betts followed with a single to left, scoring Bogaerts. After a passed ball advanced both runners, Ramirez ripped into a 3-1 fastball and drove it deep to center field. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury turned but eventually stopped and looked up, hoping the ball might hit off the wall. But it did not, setting off a raucous celebration. The Yankees had hardly expected to be in for this type of ending. Not after an early outburst that Billy Butler, whom they had signed earlier in the day, was in the middle of, with a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single. Starlin Castro had four hits and a sacrifice fly, Didi Gregorius added a pair of doubles, and the Yankees racked up 14 hits. Butler, who was waived by the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, was at his in-laws’ home in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He hopped on a flight early Thursday morning, changed planes in Salt Lake City and touched down at Logan Airport around 4:30 p.m. In 2006, when the Red Sox reacquired catcher Doug Mirabelli — the personal catcher for the knuckleballer Tim Wakefield — a police escort memorably whisked him to Fenway Park, and he changed into his uniform in the car, arriving just before game time. There were no such measures for Butler, who arrived 90 minutes before the first pitch, just in time to dress and get in a quick round of batting practice. Butler, whose nickname is Country Breakfast, built a reputation in Kansas City by feasting on left-handed pitching. But after signing a three-year, $30 million free-agent contract with Oakland before last season, Butler has struggled to hit left-handers. “I think it’s, in a sense, trying to catch lightning in a bottle,” Manager Joe Girardi said, adding that Aaron Judge’s oblique muscle injury had little to do with acquiring Butler. “I’ve watched his at-bats the last couple weeks. To me, they’ve been pretty good. If he gives you those kind of at-bats, you’re going to feel pretty good about what he does.” Since Alex Rodriguez cooled late last season, the Yankees have had few hitters that offer a threat against left-handers. Even Gary Sanchez entered Thursday just 3 for 29 against left-handers this season. The Yankees began the day with a .378 slugging percentage, 27th in baseball. A decline in performance was not the only reason Butler was released. Butler was involved in an altercation last month with his teammate Danny Valenica that, according to The San Francisco Chronicle, occurred when Butler told a shoe company representative that Valencia was wearing another brand. Valenica punched Butler, who sustained a concussion. Girardi said he was not concerned about the incident. “It’s a fresh start,” Girardi said. “We do our homework before we acquire people, and I’m O.K. with what happened.” Tanaka continued his late-season roll, lowering his earned run average to 1.44 over his last eight starts. Tanaka had only one trouble spot to navigate Thursday, and it came in the third inning, by which time he had been staked to a four-run lead, comfortable perhaps against any team but the Red Sox, who entered Thursday with 805 runs — by far the most in baseball. The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out and brought David Ortiz to the plate. Earlier in the day, the Yankees had revealed in the pregame notes that they would honor Ortiz, who is retiring after this season, before the start of his final game at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 29. As Ortiz stepped into the batters box, spat on his batting gloves and dug in against Tanaka, fans began a rhythmic chant: “Pa-pi, Pa-pi.” Ortiz, who had raked a ground-rule double to right in his first at-bat and homered later off Warren, lifted a high fly ball to left field on the third pitch from Tanaka. When Brett Gardner settled under the ball, trading an out for a run — Jackie Bradley Jr. tagged up and scored — it was a reasonable bargain for the Yankees. And though pitchers get few breathers in the Red Sox lineup, Tanaka retired Betts, whose 30 home runs trail Ortiz for the team lead by three, on a pop up that Sanchez caught just in front of the screen behind home plate. After that, Tanaka allowed only three base runners the rest of his night. But he was not in the game at the end and it showed.