Red Sox 4, Yankees 7: John Lackey serves batting practice, Sox fall

.500 has eluded the Red Sox once more after John Lackey allowed four homers to the New York Yankees en route to a 7-4 defeat.

On a day where fly balls in play seemed the greatest danger with Mike Carp and Daniel Nava playing the corners, John Lackey removed them from the equation entirely. Unfortunately, he did not choose to do so by way of the strikeout. It only took four batters for the assault to begin. Following a bunt single from Jacoby Ellsbury,  a flat fastball down main street gave Carlos Beltran the first long ball of the game, putting the Sox in an early 2-0 hole.

In the top of the second, A.J. Pierzynski briefly fought back, launching a shot into the second deck to tie the game at two-a-side. But the reprieve lasted all of two innings. By the bottom of the fourth, Lackey's troubles began anew, and worse than before. Brian McCann preyed on a first-pitch fastball to lead off the inning with the second New York home run of the game, and just five pitchers later Alfonso Soriano made it back-to-back shots, leaving the Red Sox behind by two runs once more.

It would just get worse from there, with Brian McCann belting a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth. The Sox would grab a pair of runs back as they mounted a seventh-inning rally, but for some reason Mike Carp ended up running into an out attempting to steal second, ending the inning with Xander Bogaerts as the tying run at the plate. One more homer--this time from Kelly Johnson off of Burke Badenhop--was enough to put the game well and truly away.

The only other event worth note? A baffling mess of a challenge, where Dean Anna was called safe at second despite his foot coming off the bag with the tag applied. Yes, they got the call wrong even after replay! Is this a new low for MLB officiating? It's hard to argue otherwise.

The Red Sox will try to salvage a series split in New York Sunday night at 8:00.