NEW YORK - Jonathan Papelbon had a bad feeling when he allowed Robinson Cano to reach base leading off the bottom of the 10th inning.

"Usually when you don't get the first guy," said Papelbon, "you get in trouble."

Papelbon's suspicions were well-founded three batters later when Brett Gardner's seeing-eye single rolled through the infield and scored Cano with the winning run in the Red Sox' 5-4 defeat to the New York Yankees last night.

The fifth pitcher of the evening for the Sox, Papelbon -- making just his third appearance on the 10-game road trip -- yielded a leadoff single to center to Cano, who had popped a two-run triple for the Yanks in the seventh to tie the game at 4-4.

Melky Cabrera then dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Papelbon fielded it and looked toward second, briefly entertaining the thought of trying to cut down the lead runner before thinking better of it.

"I wanted to get the out," he said.

When Papelbon fanned pinch-hitter Wilson Betemit, he and the Red Sox were an out away from sending the game to the 11th inning.

But then began Papelbon's long, drawn-out at-bat with Gardner. Papelbon quickly got ahead 0-and-2, but Gardner hung tough, fouling off pitch after pitch.

Finally, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Gardner managed to hit a ball up the middle. Shortstop Alex Cora touched it with his glove but the ball hit the lip of the outfield grass, squirting away from Cora and converging second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Cano, running all the way from second, scored easily.

"It seems like that's the way you're going to beat me this year," Papelbon lamented. "A broken-bat, off the lip of the grass . . . it's frustrating . . . You have a guy 0-and-2 and figure you can put him away. But it didn't happen."

At least not according to home plate umpire Laz Diaz. On a 1-and-2 pitch that Gardner took, Papelbon and many Red Sox players thought the rookie outfielder had been struck out.

"Yes, I did," confirmed Papelbon.

Instead, it led to just another loss on a long, disappointing road trip.

Extra bases

The Sox dropped to 4-2 in extra inning games this season . . . The Sox are 11-16 in one-run games and have lost their last seven contests decided by a single run, including all six on this road trip . . . Last night marked the fifth time this season that Tim Wakefield left the game with the lead but didn't record a win . . . Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 14 games, matching a career high achieved three times earlier. During the streak, Pedroia is hitting a scorching .500 (31-for-62) . . . Kevin Youkilis had his 31st multi-hit game of the season.