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Yankees Spoil Red Sox’ Chance at Playing Spoiler, Ensure That Boston Will Finish Last in Division

Editor's note: NESN.com is going to tell the story of the 2012 Red Sox in Bobby Valentine's words. Each game day, we will select a Valentine quote that sums up the day for the Red Sox.

At 9:55 p.m. ET, the Red Sox were three outs and a two-run lead away from victory over the Yankees.

At 11:18, the Red Sox fell victim to their 92nd loss of the season in the bottom of the 12th inning, courtesy of a walk-off single by Raul Ibanez off Andrew Miller that resulted in a 4-3 loss.

"He did a good job of going with it and the hole that was there," Miller said. "But shouldn't have been in that situation. Worst-case scenario that's a single, but I walked two guys to put a guy on second base and that cost us the game."

And it was Ibanez who originally spoiled Boston's prospects as spoilers in the ninth inning. With a baserunner aboard, Ibanez crushed Andrew Bailey's fastball into the right-field seats, collecting his 19th home run of the year.

The eventual loss dropped the Red Sox' record in extra-inning games to 2-10 on the season, but it also meant more than that. As a result of this loss — and Toronto's victory on Tuesday — the Red Sox were guaranteed to finish in last place in the American League East.

"We didn't start the season to finish fifth or sixth, fourth or third," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said. "I'd just like to say congratulations to the winning team. They battled hard and deserved to win."

Bailey and Miller's blemishes overshadowed a strong performance by Boston's bullpen. Aside from the pair's miscues, Rich Hill, Junichi Tazawa, Craig Breslow, Mark Melancon and Vicente Padilla each threw scoreless outings.

For Bailey, it marked his third blown save in 19 appearances. While the closer hopes for a chance to redeem himself in Wednesday's season finale, he admitted his failures would make for an agonizing offseason.

"I've let the team down a couple times," Bailey said. "It's my fault. There's no one else to blame. It's a mixture of not getting ahead of guys, making bad pitches when I've got to put people away. That's a situation where I've got to put people away, and I didn't.

"There's no reset button for me. For me, my numbers speak for themselves. Unfortunately, we have a long offseason. This game is what's going to keep me pushing forward to next year."

For Bailey and the Red Sox, there will be no shortage of errors to motivate.