Yankees rescue Burnett with rally to beat Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The hook with a loss attached to it was planted deep in the back of A.J. Burnett’s mouth.

An awful first two innings by Burnett had put the Yankees in a hole and set the Rays up for a win.

Yet former Yankees flop Kyle Farnsworth flushed a two-run lead in the eighth and Alex Torres, a lefty in his major league debut, couldn’t find the plate in the ninth, when Russell Martin’s bases-loaded, full-count walk lifted the Yankees to a 5-4 victory in front of 22,471 at Tropicana Field.

PHOTOS: YANKS RALLY TO BEAT RAYS, 5-4

The game was delayed for 18 minutes in the fifth inning when lightning hit a substation that supplies electricity to the building. A bank of lights above first base went dark and when the umpires asked Joe Girardi first if he wanted to continue with the bulbs out, he said no so the game was halted.

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Pitching on eight days’ rest — double the normal amount — Burnett looked like he never had been on a mound before in the first two frames, when he gave up four runs (three earned), five hits, three walks and made a costly throwing error.

“That probably had something to do with it,” Burnett said of the rust. “But I make no excuses.”

As bad as Burnett was in the first two innings, he didn’t allow another run and gave the Yankees a chance to post their third straight win that kept them 1 1/2 lengths behind the first-place Red Sox in the AL East.

Trailing 4-2 in the eighth against a team that lost 1-0 in 16 innings Sunday to the Red Sox, the Yankees watched Brett Gardner deliver an RBI single off Farnsworth, who came in with two on and one out, to make it a one-run game.

Gardner then used his legs to break up a potential inning-ending double play on Eduardo Nunez’ grounder to second that was hit hard enough to start a DP.

But Gardner got into second baseman Sean Rodriguez enough to disrupt the throw that Nunez beat, allowing Swisher to score the tying run from third.

“I did what I had to do,” said Gardner, who went 1-for-3, walked twice and stole a base. “I am not trying to hurt him, but my job is to go in there hard. I was trying to get enough of him to affect the throw.”

David Robertson (3-0) worked a strong eighth, when he fanned Johnny Damon and Ben Zobrist with changes.

Because of Sunday night’s marathon, Rays manager Joe Maddon had nobody else in the pen besides Torres, who was called up yesterday, it was the lefty’s game to win or lose. Torres issued three walks (one intentional) and packed a loss in his bags when he headed back to Triple-A.

Curtis Granderson led off the ninth by hitting a 94-mph fastball into center field and stole second. Robinson Cano’s one-out grounder to the right side moved Granderson to third. Swisher was intentionally walked and Andruw Jones walked to load the bases for Martin.

“I noticed against right-handers he was throwing fastballs and change-ups,” Martin said. “I was looking for a fastball or a change-up.”

At 3-2, Torres missed and the Yankees turned a 5-4 lead over to Mariano Rivera, who posted his 24th save.

Hector Noesi, Robertson and Rivera provided 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. The Yankees took advantage of Torres’ wildness. And Gardner used aggressive baserunning.

All of which was the difference between Burnett swallowing a loss and spitting the hook out.

george.king@nypost.com

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