NEW YORK — In his last start, Curt Schilling allowed eight extra-base hits and four walks in just six innings, but somehow managed to limit the Detroit Tigers to just two runs.

Last night, the baserunners piled up just as quickly and as early on Schilling, but this time, so did the runs. Schilling and the Red Sox trailed by three in the first, and solo runs in each of the next three innings quickly put the game out of reach as the Yankees smoked the Red Sox, 8-3, to take this showdown series two games to one.

It was the first series loss for the Red Sox since April 23-24, when they were swept in a two-game set with Toronto and only their third series loss of the season. With the win, the Yankees carved a game off the Sox’ lead and now trail in the A.L. East standings by 9 ½.

Schilling has just one win in his last five starts and his ERA for May finished at 4.65.

“I was consistently inconsistent,” said a downcast Schilling, “against a lineup where you have to locate. Most of the hits (there were 12, the most he’s allowed since giving up 13 in a April 2004 start against Toronto) I made mistakes and they hammered them.

Over his career, Schilling has thrived by locating his fastball with precision, but that skill deserted him last night.

He fell behind, got himself into hitter’s counts, and when he left pitches up they were hit and hit hard.

A single off the glove of a diving Dustin Pedroia scored Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui drilled a Schilling offering down the line and inside the right field foul pole.

“Letter-high fastball over the middle of the plate,” sighed Schilling, “and it was supposed to be down-and-away. With Andy (Pettitte) throwing the way he was, the last thing I wanted to was put our team in the hole. But that’s what I did.”

It didn’t get any better in the ensuing innings. An error by Julio Lugo and three infield hits in the second contributed to an unearned run, the first off Schilling in 70 starts.

In the third, a leadoff double by Alex Rodriguez and a sharp single to right by Jorge Posada accounted for another run, and when Schilling mislocated with another pitch in the fourth, Doug Mientkiewicz cranked it off the upper façade in right.

“He was trying to fight through things,” said catcher Jason Varitek of Schilling. “We tried to mix-and-match to get back to his fastball, but we didn’t get away with any mistakes.

Over his last 12 innings, Schilling has allowed 24 baserunners.

“I can’t pinpoint any one thing,” said Schilling. “I have to pitch in another five days and I’ve got to figure it out over the next four.”

Like the first two games of the series, this one was decided early. At no point in the three games did the lead change hands.

Each night, a first-inning homer set the tone for the rest of the game. Every one of the games was decided by a minimum of four runs, and no saves were recorded for either bullpen.

In that way, it was an atypical Red Sox-Yankee series, with little drama or late-inning tension.

“Scoring early, then adding on, like we did (Tuesday) night,” said Terry Francona, “makes it difficult to win.”

The Sox were punchless against Pettitte, though they had their opportunities in the first few innings.

They stranded a runner in scoring position in the second, left two more on in the third and put the leadoff man on in both the fourth and fifth, but couldn’t get through against the veteran lefty, who was far more effective than he was when the Sox beat him on April 27.

“He mixed his pitches well,” said Varitek of Pettitte, who improved to 14-6 lifetime against the Sox, “and pitched out of jams really well.”

Finally, doubles by Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell resulted in a run in the sixth, but by then the game had been decided.

In the final few innings, both teams managed runs off the other club’s bullpen.

The Sox got two against Kyle Farnsworth on Coco Crisp’s first homer of the year, a leadoff belt deep to right, and Kevin Youkilis’ run-scoring single.

Derek Jeter (three hits) led the home seventh with a triple and scored on Matsui’s third RBI of the night, while Damon produced night’s final run against Joel Pineiro.