http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/sports/baseball/ny-yankees-boston-red-sox-starlin-castro.html 2016-09-17 23:33:49 Yankees Continue to Slide at Fenway and Lose Starlin Castro, Too One week after drawing within a game of a playoff spot, the Yankees dropped their third straight to the Red Sox. Castro had to leave with a hamstring injury. === BOSTON — The great unraveling of the If losing Starlin Castro, their leading home run hitter and run producer, to a hamstring injury was not painful enough, their 6-5 loss to the It was the Yankees’ sixth defeat in seven games, and the optimism that surrounded the team a week ago — after they had won seven in a row and charged within a game of a wild-card berth — has given way to frustration. Resignation is following close behind. The Yankees trail the first-place Red Sox by seven games in the American League East. They began the day four games behind the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays for the two wild-card berths. The Yankees were done in by the smallest of cuts on Saturday — a curveball by Adam Warren that bounced past catcher Austin Romine, allowing Mookie Betts to scoot home with what proved to be the winning run in the seventh inning. Two days after blowing a four-run lead, the Yankees let a 5-2 advantage slip away. Gary Sanchez hit a two-run homer and Romine scored a run and hit a two-run double to stake the Yankees to a 5-2 advantage by the time Castro lined a ball to the gap in left-center field in the fifth inning. As Castro, who leads the Yankees with a career-high 21 home runs and 69 R.B.I., rounded first, he reached down to grab his hamstring and hobbled into second base. He immediately left the game with what was diagnosed as a strain. The Yankees could also be without center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, whose miserable day ended after he slid into the center-field wall while trying in vain to catch Xander Bogaerts’ double that led off the seventh inning against Luis Severino. Ellsbury was diagnosed with a right knee injury and will have further tests. Severino, who had allowed only an unearned run in 18 innings of relief, entered the game with two outs in the fifth after Bogaerts — who had three extra-base hits — chased Bryan Mitchell with a two-run homer that narrowed the Yankees’ lead to 5-4. Severino escaped a high-tension jam in sixth, striking out Dustin Pedroia on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded to end the inning. Pedroia, who took a fastball on the outside corner, was furious with Bill Welke, the home plate umpire, over the call. The Yankees were not so fortunate after Bogaerts hit a double in the seventh. Tommy Layne entered the game and David Ortiz hit a fly ball to center that was deep enough to advance Bogaerts to third. Warren was summoned to face Betts, whose one-hopper bounced over the head of the drawn-in shortstop Didi Gregorius, scoring Bogaerts with the tying run. After Hanley Ramirez singled, the Yankees had a chance to escape when Travis Shaw hit a sharp grounder to Mark Teixeira, the usually sure-fielding first baseman. But the ball ticked off Teixeira’s glove, and although he retrieved the ball in time to throw out Shaw at first, failing to seize the opportunity to end the inning proved costly. When Warren bounced a 2-1 curveball to Sandy Leon, Betts scored. Ramirez tried to score as well, but he was tagged out at home to end the inning. Still, with the Yankees’ late-season slump continuing, the damage had already been done.