NEW YORK — Boston Red Sox left fielder Carl Crawford's season might soon be over, and his team might not be far behind. The rival New York Yankees seem to be just getting started, after an impressive week.

Crawford reportedly will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery on his left elbow Tuesday, while the Red Sox are still amid a season-threatening slide that included Sunday night's 4-1 loss to the Yankees.

Boston dropped two of three to their rivals to fall 7½ games back of the second wild card spot and cap a chaotic week featuring reports of team discord.

The Yankees had no such issues, as they remained five games up on the Tampa Bay Rays thanks largely to two home runs and three hits from Ichiro Suzuki.

Derek Jeter added three hits and scored two runs, while Curtis Granderson responded to his first cleanup assignment as a Yankee by driving in a run with a double.

Hiroki Kuroda (12-8) continued to lead the Yankees' pitching staff, throwing eight innings of one-run ball while the Yankees touched up Josh Beckett (5-11) for four runs in six innings.

Beckett dropped his third straight decision and fifth in his last six.

Rafael Soriano earned his 31st save of the season with a scoreless ninth. He started the ninth by giving up a leadoff single to Crawford — in what could be his last at-bat of the season. But Soriano got Dustin Pedroia to hit into a double play and struck out Adrian Gonzalez to end the game.

The Yankees took a 3-0 lead off Beckett in the first four innings, scoring single runs in the first, third and fifth.

Ichiro's sixth home run of the season gave New York a 3-0 lead.

Before the game, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine and general manager Ben Cherington said they would talk with Crawford today about whether he should have Tommy John surgery and when to have it, but ESPN later reported Crawford would have the surgery Tuesday.

Cherington responded by again referencing the fact there would be a meeting today.

Cherington said before the game the focus of the decision would be on what's best for Crawford, who has been disappointing since signing a seven-year, $142 million contract before last season.

Cherington said he saw the report linking former catcher Kelly Shoppach to the infamous text message reportedly sent from Gonzalez's phone to management griping about manager Bobby Valentine, but “I can't add anything more to the story. The meeting (between players and ownership) happened, time has passed, we're trying to move on.”