Rangers Take Series, Top Yankees, 7-3

On a day filled with terrible news, Phil Hughes and the New York Yankees couldn't escape Texas with a series win, dropping the rubber game against the Rangers, 7-3, on Wednesday night.

Phil Hughes didn't get out of the third inning tonight, tossing just 2 2/3 innings while allowing five hits, four runs, and a dinger off the bat of Adrian Beltre. Girardi pulled him with the bases loaded, entrusting Clay Rapada to limit the damage. Rapada responded, forcing David Murphy to ground out while keeping the Yankees in the game for the time being.

The Yankees responded with two runs in the top of the fourth behind a Raul Ibanez RBI double and an Eric Chavez sac-fly, but the offense was relatively quiet for the rest of the night, outside of a long solo homer off the bat of Ibanez in the top of the seventh.

David Phelps took over for Rapada and immediately served up a homer to Mike Napoli. Despite how poorly Hughes pitched, Phelps didn't make his case for the rotation tonight, as he lasted just 2 1/3 innings, serving up five hits and two homers while walking three batters and allowing three runs.

Cody Eppley, Boone Logan, and Rafael Soriano combined to make the last eight outs painless, as they allowed just two baserunners combined.

Box Score.

Comment of the Game: long time listener

The Yankees are off tomorrow and will face Justin Verlander on Friday night in the Bronx.

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• Derek Jeter is good. Really good. He went 2-for-4 and stole a base, raising his season batting average to .420.
• Raul Ibanez had a really nice day at the plate, hitting a long homer while also chipping in with an RBI double.
• Mark Teixeira was the only other Yankee to reach base more than once, as he went 2-for-4.
• As a whole, the team went just 1-for-7 with RISP. Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher combined to go 1-for-8 and left six men on base.
• The Yankees had an opportunity to get after the Texas bullpen, as Scott Feldman was making an emergency start, but they were unable to do so. The Texas bullpen went 5 2/3 innings, struck out five, didn't walk a batter, and only allowed one run. Credit where credit is due.
• Mike Napoli hit 8th tonight. He had a 178 wRC+ last season and he had a 149 wRC+ coming into tonight, and that will only be going up after he walked and hit his seventh homer of the season. I know batting order doesn't mean all that much, but why in the world does Mike Napoli hit 8th? I mean, he hits behind David Murphy.