Schilling loses in relief to Yanks

The Red Sox star gave up a two-run homer to Alex Rodriguez in the ninth.
BOSTON (AP) -- There was no blood on Curt Schilling's sock when he faced the New York Yankees this time.
No bite on his splitter, either.
With the sore-ankled hero of Boston's 2004 World Series run debuting in his new job as a reliever, Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer to break a ninth-inning tie and New York beat the Red Sox 8-6 Thursday night.
The Yankees won for the eighth time in nine tries to pull within 1 1/2 games of first place in the AL East, the closest they've been to the division lead since winning at Fenway Park on April 13.
"I believe this game, we don't win it the first two or three months of the year," Rodriguez said. "It shows you how far we've come."
Standing ovation
Cameras flashed and the sold-out crowd stood to cheer for Schilling in the sixth when he went out to the bullpen, where he's been shifted to fill a need while closer Keith Foulke recovers from knee surgery. The fans gave him another standing ovation when he came in to pitch the ninth.
But Schilling (1-3) gave up a dart of a double to Gary Sheffield to start the inning -- his third extra-base hit of the game -- then Rodriguez homered over the bleachers in left-center on the first pitch.
"I don't know if I liked it, I just swung hard in case I hit it," Rodriguez said.
Schilling, who had been on the disabled list since April 23, retired the next three batters to complete his first relief appearance since a late-season tuneup in 2002.
"It was set up to be a situation that was great, if I did what I was supposed to do," Schilling said. "I made two big mistakes back-to-back. ... It's frustrating, disappointing."
Rivera gets save
Tom Gordon (3-3) pitched one hitless inning, and Mariano Rivera struck out all three batters in the ninth for his 21st save in 23 tries; both blown saves were against Boston during the season's opening series. Jason Giambi, Bernie Williams and Sheffield also homered for the Yankees.
Schilling has struggled to recover from ankle surgery, and when Foulke went on the disabled list the Red Sox decided to put their ace in the bullpen to plug the gap. He had not relieved regularly since 1992, when the Phillies first promoted him to the rotation.
Schilling proved no better than Foulke, but Boston manager Terry Francona isn't ready to give up on the experiment.
"The only way to do that is to put the guys where you think they belong and let them go," he said. "With the game on the line, the more he pitches with health ... he's going to be very good."
Giambi's homer was his sixth in seven games, and Sheffield homered for the third consecutive game to go with two doubles.
Williams connected off starter Bronson Arroyo one day after attending the pitcher's concert at a Boston nightclub. Arroyo is scheduled to play a postgame concert in Fenway on Saturday night; Williams, an accomplished guitarist, has also been invited to play but has not committed.
Even the Yankees paused to watch Schilling walk out to the bullpen in the sixth with backup catcher Doug Mirabelli. The 38-year-old right-hander threw a few warmup pitches before the seventh inning, then sat back down. At the start of the ninth, he jogged out of the bullpen as the crowd went wild.
"That's always been a positive for me," Schilling said. "And tonight I thought it was going to work for me."
Jason Varitek met him at the mound for a brief conference, then Schilling made his usual trip behind the mound to collect his thoughts.
Back-to-back trouble
He threw a 91 mph fastball to Sheffield on the first pitch, but his splitters stayed up and Sheffield sent one on a 2-2 count off the left-center portion of the Green Monster scoreboard. Rodriguez followed with a mammoth shot over the camera in straightaway center.
Johnny Damon led off the first with a single to extend his hitting streak to 26 games -- most in the majors this season. He stole second, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on David Ortiz's single.
Manny Ramirez walked, then Trot Nixon homered down the right-field line to make it 4-0. Ortiz homered in the seventh to break a 5-5 tie, but Jorge Posada doubled to start the eighth and scored on pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra's double to tie it at 6.