Alex Rodriguez's RBI single lit up the Yankees, who went on an unbelievable six-run rally in the eighth inning and made a doubtful comeback to beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-7, and sustain hope for another AL East crown.

This win saw the first seven Yankees reach safely the fourth base in the eighth, an inning New York started with a 5 run deficit. Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano started the rally with homer runs.

Derek Jeter delivered a run-scoring hit, and Bobby Abreu smacked a two-run double as the Yankees won 8-7, the eighth win in nine contests and pulled within 4.5 games of Boston in the division.

"I think it's our biggest win of the year, certainly," Rodriguez said of the game that lasted an agonizing 4 hours, 43 minutes. "It's definitely a character-builder. It gives us a lot of confidence, coming into a place like this and being down five runs late in the game with their bullpen. It's a good character win."

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched into the 6th inning and was in line for the win, but the Boston Red Sox bullpen failed to hold the lead as the game started to unravel with Giambi and Cano’s back to back homeruns and with Bobby Abreu tying it and A-Rod driving in what would prove to be the game winning run.

Mariano Rivera entered the game in the 9th, and despite letting leadoff man on slammed the door and gave the Yankee hope that they still may win the AL East.

If New York does catch-up with the Red Sox then this unbelievable victory may serve as the key morale-turning moment in the chase.

The Red Sox play the Yankees two more times, today and Sunday night and maybe there is an inevitable clash in the championship series in October. It’s not impossible.

It is amazing that New York has crawled back into the contest, and despite Papelbon’s confidence before this game, when he said: "We have no pressure on us. We have the lead.," any Red Sox fan you ask might not feel the same.