NEW YORK -- The Yankees mixed a lot of ugliness into nine innings of baseball again Thursday night.
Facing the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a four-game series at Yankee Stadium, the Yanks continued their trend of poor play this week by botching a rundown, running themselves into outs and messing up routine groundballs.
Giancarlo Stanton ends drought, joins 300-homer club
Left-hander J.A. Happ, the new stud of their rotation, even had his first rough night in a Yankees uniform.
After all of that was overcame and the Yankees managed to take a two-run lead into the ninth, a rare chance to close for Dellin Betances led to his first really bad outing in months.
Victor Martinez followed a one-out walk to Niholas Castellanos by hitting a game-tying, two-run homer to right off Betances, then Niko Goodrum followed with a go-ahead shot to right four pitches later.
This ended up being a giveaway by the Yankees, who lost 8-7.
After the game, the Yankees reportedly traded for five-time All-Star outfielder Andrew McCutchen to be part of a stretch run that probably will lead to a berth in the AL Wild Card game for the second year in a row.
With the Red Sox rallying for a win over the White Sox in Chicago on Thursday night, the Yankees dropped to 8 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.
Betances (4-4) allowed three runs in the ninth after entering the game having given up just two runs over 33 2/3 innings in 35 outings since May 27.
The ball was flying out on this 89-degree evening, as the teams combined for eight homers, five of which were for the usually soft-hitting Tigers.
The Yankees wasted homers by Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit.
Stanton's two-run, opposite-field homer to right in the third was the 300th of his career, and he was rewarded with a standing ovation, which led to a curtain call.
Until Betances' blown save, Voit was in line to be the final hero, as he broke a 5-5 tie with a seventh-inning, two-run homer.
Stanton started a rally with a one-out double, then after Miguel Andujar struck out, Voit hit a blast to center that touched down in Monument Park for a two-run dinger. This was the fourth homer in 41 at-bats as a Yankee for Voit, who was traded by St. Louis in late July.
After winning his first five starts since being traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Yankees in July, Happ was lit up for five runs and 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings, all of the runs coming on three homers.
Happ's night went bad right off the bat, as Tigers leadoff hitter Jeimer Canderlario lined the fifth pitch of the game into the left-field seats.
NOTABLE
-- Gary Sanchez caught all nine innings for the second night in a row and was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts playing his fourth and probably final rehab game with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday night. Sanchez is expected to travel to New York on Friday and be activated from the disabled list on Saturday when rosters can be expanded.
-- Torres was 3-for-4 at the plate, but booted an easy grounder and was thrown out at third base trying to stretch a double into a triple.
LOOKING AHEAD
Friday, Detroit Tigers at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. RHP Jordan Zimmermann (6-6, 4.38) vs. RHP Luis Severino (17-6, 3.27).
Saturday, Detroit Tigers at Yankees, 4:05 p.m., YES & FS1. TBA vs. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (9-5. 3.97).
Sunday, Detroit Tigers at Yankees, 1:05 p.m., YES. LHP Matthew Boyd (8-12, 4.22) vs. RHP Lance Lynn (8-9, 4.84).
Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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