Phil Hughes didn't deserve to lose this one. Unfortunately, Hughes' great outing was bested by a better one from Jarrod Parker, and the offense wasn't there to bail him out. Two solo homers by Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon Inge were the only damage done against Hughes over 7.2 innings of work. He gave up four hits and two walks while striking out six batters. With David Robertson warming up in the 7th, it didn't look like Hughes would even start the 8th, but he did in a 1-1 game before giving up the difference-maker dinger to Inge.
Once Boone Logan came on to relieve Hughes, he had Coco Crisp picked off between second and first before missing the tag and allowing Crisp to get back to first base safely ahead of the attempted tag by Russell Martin. Logan eventually won the battle, though, successfully picking Crisp off soon after. Can't really blame Russ for that, but you are welcome to blame him for his double play with two runners on in the second inning and continuing to be all-around bad at everything offense.
The offense was led by two singles off the bat of Alex Rodriguez, who scored the Yankees' only run on an RBI by Raul Ibanez. A-Rod singled to lead off the 9th inning before Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, and Andruw Jones were all sat down on strikes. Continuing to pad his lead in stolen bases, Rodriguez swiped second base with Tex at the plate, but would get no further because Teixeira decided not to swing at anything he saw in the at-bat. Pinch hitting for Ibanez, Jones nearly put the Yankees ahead with one swing, but it was pulled foul down the line before he ultimately met the same fate as the two prior batters.
Fortunately, the hitters did finally manage to take a walk in this series with Granderson being issued the free pass to break the span of 99 batters between walks. The A's pitchers have attacked the zone, but patience at the plate is very much the Yankees' game and not being able to work counts has led to a lot of uncomfortable at-bats.
The Yankees send their ace to the mound against the similarly rotund Bartolo Colon tomorrow to try and avoid the sweep.