HOT START, COLD FINISH: Yankees manager Joe Girardi pulls starter Phil Hughes from the game in the sixth inning of last night’s 9-5 loss to the Red Sox in Game 2 of a doubleheader. (Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post)

Hughes allowed five runs in 5 1/3 innings, but only three were earned. (Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post)

BOSTON — A shower of power in the matinee put the Yankees in position to give themselves a double-digit lead over the Red Sox in the AL East.

And when Mark Teixeira crushed a three-run homer in the first frame of the nightcap, the Yankees appeared on the way to a doubleheader sweep of their blood rivals at Fenway Park.

Then two things happened: The Yankees’ gloves turned to stone, and their bats went limp.

So, instead of attempting to complete a four-game sweep tonight, the Yankees will be looking to avoid a split because of an ugly 9-5 loss in the second game that was witnessed by 37,791.

After winning the first game, 6-1, when they hit four homers — two by Andruw Jones, who added a third on the day with a solo shot in the nightcap — the Yankees committed a season-high four errors in the nightcap (it would have been five if an error by Jayson Nix had not been changed).