By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com NEW YORK -- Andy Pettitte was rocked in his second start back from the disabled list and the Yankees lost their grip on first place in the American League East, suffering a 10-8 loss to the Red Sox on Friday at Yankee Stadium. Six Yankees homers -- including the 609th and 610th of Alex Rodriguez's career, which moved him past Sammy Sosa into sole possession of sixth place on baseball's all-time list -- helped close the gap, but it wasn't enough for New York to avoid losing ground to the Rays, who defeated the Seattle Mariners, 5-3. New York's magic number to secure a postseason berth remained at three, with five games left against Boston and three games against the Blue Jays in Toronto. Looking for a strong outing to secure his place in a potential postseason rotation, Pettitte lasted just 3 1/3 innings and was rocked for seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits, leaving the Yankees trailing by six runs by the time he walked off the mound. A Nick Swisher fielding error helped set up Jed Lowrie's three-run home run off Pettitte in the second inning. After David Ortiz dented the left-field wall with a double, Mike Lowell smashed a low line drive to right field that smacked the heel of Swisher's glove before falling safely. Lowrie made the error a costly one, belting a three-run homer to right -- his seventh of the year -- and the Red Sox would chase Pettitte with four more runs in the fourth inning. After Pettitte surrendered three straight hits to open the inning, Darnell McDonald hit a ball down the third-base line that was ruled fair by umpire Brian O'Nora but scooped up by a Yankees ballboy for a ground-rule double that plated two runs. Marco Scutaro knocked Pettitte out with a two-run single to center field, completing Pettitte's worst start against Boston since Sept. 5, 2003, when he allowed eight runs in 2 1/3 innings at the original Yankee Stadium. Bill Hall added a long three-run homer off Jonathan Albaladejo in the fifth inning, blasting his 18th shot of the year off of an advertising board above the visitors' bullpen in left-center field. The Yankees hurt Beckett mostly with the long ball, beginning with Curtis Granderson, who put New York on the board in the third inning with his 22nd home run, a solo blast to right-center. Mark Teixeira connected for his 31st homer -- and his first of September -- in the sixth inning, and Rodriguez followed with the first of his two homers, as the seventh and youngest member of baseball's 600-homer club continues to climb the leaderboard. With two outs in the ninth inning, Teixeira hit his second homer of the night. Swisher closed the deficit by clubbing Beckett's final pitch over the wall in right field for a two-run homer, Swisher's 28th. A-Rod then belted a Scott Atchison offering into the visitors' bullpen for a two-run shot, marking his fourth multihomer game of the season.
