The Boston Red Sox were in first place on Aug. 31 but managed to blow a nine-game cushion and failed to make the playoffs when former Durham Bulls Dan Johnson and Evan Longoria homered to defeat the Yankees and take the AL wild card berth.

Johnson, who spent a good deal of the last couple of seasons with the Bulls, homered with two outs and two strikes on him to tie the Yankees at 7-7 in the ninth inning.

The Red Sox needed to beat the Orioles to either tie the Rays if they won or get the wild card berth outright if they lost. Boston led 3-2 with closer Jonathan Papabon on the mound in the ninth. He struck out the first two batters but gave up three straight hits, the final one off the glove of a sliding Carl Crawford in left and off the bat of Robert Andino to give the O’s a 4-3 lead.

Within two minutes, Longoria ripped a line-drive homer just over the left field wall to give the Rays an 8-7 win in 12 innings – and a berth in the playoffs which start Friday.

The Bulls are the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.