Once again, he was summoned from the bullpen to quell a possible rally. And once again, he made the game closer than it needed to be.

So what’s wrong with Tom Gordon?

For the second straight night, the Yankees’ best set-up man struggled in an eighth-inning spot. And perhaps there should now be some concerns about Gordon’s reliability against the Red Sox.

Last night, Gordon was brought in to rescue Jon Lieber with a runner on first, nobody out in the eighth and Jason Varitek at the plate. Varitek had been 0-for-6 lifetime against Gordon, so the matchup seemed like a favorable one for the Yankees.

Soon enough, Gordon served up a high slider and Varitek belted it into the right-centerfield gap for a double as Gordon let out an angry yell.

“Not so much that he hit a good pitch,” Gordon said. “I missed a spot.”

Gordon would recover to get Orlando Cabrera to ground out to short, but a run scored, cutting the Yankee lead to 3-1. Gordon then induced Bill Mueller to ground out to second.

But at that point, with Johnny Damon coming up, Joe Torre elected not to take any more chances, and he called for Mariano Rivera, a decision that forced the Yankees’ star closer to complete a four-out save for the second straight night.

Gordon, though, sounded pleased with his outing, noting, “My fastball was very good.

“Any time you get two outs and you’re still leading by two [runs],” Gordon said, adding, “Mariano’s the best in the league.”

True, and Rivera struck out Damon, ending the threat and eliminating further damage. But Gordon has now faced eight Red Sox hitters in this series and allowed four of them to reach base and two to score.

Not good.

In Game 1, Gordon came in and served up David Ortiz’s two-run triple before Rivera came in and settled things down.

During the ALDS celebration in Minnesota last Saturday, Gordon was hit in the left eye by a champagne cork, prompting some black spots and blurriness. But after Tuesday night’s game, Gordon said he “felt great,” and his vision was starting to return.

“Eye’s fine,” Gordon said last night. “Thank God.”