NEW YORK -- Aaron Judge tracked J.D. Martinez's eighth-inning drive to the right-field wall, timing a leap with precision as he pushed his glove into the crowd. He returned to the warning track with empty hands, briefly searching for the baseball before realizing that it now resided somewhere among the anguished faces in the seating area.
After the Yankees rallied to tie the game with four runs in the seventh, Martinez's solo homer off Dellin Betances held up as the deciding blow. The Yankees' eight-game winning streak was snapped with a 5-4 loss to the Red Sox on Thursday evening at Yankee Stadium, with New York's second loss in 19 games evening the rivals once again atop the American League East.

"I was hoping it stayed in," Betances said. "I don't know how he got it like that, but you've got to give him credit. That pitch was probably a ball in, and he inside-outed it. It's probably not a home run in any [other] park, but it's a home run today."
Beginning his second inning, Betances served up Martinez's homer -- which had just a 28 percent hit probability, per Statcast™ -- after the Yanks had come back against the Sox's bullpen. Though Judge said that he felt his glove make contact with a fan, manager Aaron Boone said that the Yankees did not believe that there had been interference, based upon Judge's reaction.

"Off the bat I knew I had a shot at getting it, but at the last second when I was going for it, the last five feet it faded on me," Judge said. "It was just out of reach. I just didn't make the play, even if I did hit the fan. Once it goes past that little boundary, it's fair game. I've got to make the play and I didn't make the play."
Richard Hembree permitted two hits and a walk before Joe Kelly entered to vociferous boos from the sellout crowd of 46,899. Kelly issued a four-pitch RBI walk to Brett Gardner and a run-scoring hit to Judge, setting up Didi Gregorius to drive the third run in with a fielder's choice. A wild pitch allowed Gardner to race home with the fourth run.

In the eighth, Kelly got the best of Christopher Austin in their first meeting since the April 11 fracas at Fenway Park, getting the New York first baseman to fly out. The Yanks left two on against Kelly in the eighth before Craig Kimbrel rebounded from Wednesday's blown save, retiring the side in the ninth for his 10th save.

"We gave ourselves a chance on a night when it didn't necessarily look that way, down 4-0 going into the rain delay," Boone said. "I'm really proud of the way the guys continue to compete with the game in the balance there in the end. I walk away proud of these guys."
Eduardo Rodriguez started for Boston and held the Yankees to one hit -- Giancarlo Stanton's fourth-inning infield single -- over five frames. Rodriguez walked three and struck out eight.

Yankees starter Carsten Sabathia worked four-plus innings, exiting after a 55-minute rain delay. Hanley Ramirez drove in three of the season-high four runs that Sabathia permitted, contributing an RBI groundout in the first, a shift-beating single that drove home a run in the third and a solo homer before the lightning storm arrived in the fifth.
Martinez's third-inning fielder's choice knocked home the other run against Sabathia, who allowed nine hits. He walked none and struck out five in an 80-pitch effort, failing to complete six innings for the first time in four starts. Though Sabathia said he kept his spikes on during the rain delay hoping to return, he was fairly certain that his night was over when the tarp appeared.

"I felt pretty good," Sabathia said. "Maybe a little too aggressive a couple of times with two strikes. I threw some pitches in the zone that were probably too good to hit with two strikes. I felt good and hopefully next time out I'll be able to go out and execute a little better."
SOUND SMART
The Yankees were held without an extra-base hit for the first time this season. The 36 games with at least one extra-base hit is their fourth-longest such streak to start a season since 1908.
HE SAID IT
"That's why you're always trying to make sure that you keep the game close -- bend, not break. Go out and try to do whatever you can to get the team back in the dugout, because we can score runs at any point." -- Sabathia
UP NEXT
Sonny Gray will face his former club for the first time on Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET as the Yankees open a three-game series against the Athletics. Gray is coming off his second straight quality start, having defeated the Indians last time out. The right-hander was acquired from the A's last July 31 in a trade that included outfielder Dustin Fowler, who is expected to start in center field for Oakland. The A's have not announced their starting pitcher.