The New York Yankees' 2011 season hit a low point Sunday night. The Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 7-5, getting swept by their arch-rivals in a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. The loss was New York's fifth straight and ninth in 12 games.
The Yankees are 20-18, two games behind division leading Tampa Bay in the American League East. The Yankees begin a two-game series in Tampa Bay Monday night. To make matters worse, the sweep allowed Boston (20-20) to reach the .500 mark for the first time this season.
The Yankees held a 4-1 lead after two innings, but Kevin Youkilis' three-run homer off Freddy Garcia tied the game in the third inning. David Ortiz hit a broken-bat home run off Garcia in the fifth inning to give Boston a 5-4 lead.
Alex Rodriguez's error in the top of the seventh inning allowed the eventual game-winning run to score. A-Rod had a slow roller go right through his legs.
Jon Lester (5-1) gave up four runs on five hits in a six-inning start for Boston, which is .500 (20-20) for the first time this season. Lester struck out seven and walked four.
Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer and scored twice for New York, which has lost a season-high five consecutive games. Andruw Jones hit a solo homer.
Freddy Garcia (2-3) allowed five runs -- four earned -- on six hits over 5 1/3 frames to take the loss.
Jorge Posada apologized to Yankees manager Joe Girardi for asking out of the lineup prior to Saturday's game against the Red Sox.
After being dropped to ninth in the order, Posada was a late scratch for the game, touching off a bizarre string of events before, during and after the game that included his wife defending him on the social networking site Twitter.
Posada was not in the lineup for Sunday night's game, but was cheered when he came on as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. He walked.
-- Sports Network contributed to this report