Burnett allows five in first as Yankees fall, 10-4

PHOENIX - Joe Girardi had a positive message for A.J. Burnett when he pulled him last Wednesday with one out in the fourth inning against the Phillies.

"Hey, we're going to fix this," the Yankees' manager told his struggling starter.

Time to head back to the shop.

Burnett, after an almost indescribably bad first inning, lasted only four innings Monday night in the Yankees' 10-4 loss to the Diamondbacks in front of 47,229 at Chase Field.

"I don't feel like myself," said Burnett, who lost his fourth straight. "I'm not having fun right now. I mean, who would during a stretch like this? But the game's supposed to be fun, and when you come out and take the air out of your team right away for a handful of starts, it gets quite frustrating. I'm going to keep plugging away."

Burnett (6-6) allowed three home runs and five runs in a span of 13 pitches in the first inning, the most remarkable part of the frame being that he had retired the first two batters rather effortlessly. But then all heck broke loose.

It started when Justin Upton (four RBIs) hit the first of his two home runs on the night, clobbering a 1-and-1 pitch by Burnett to center for his 12th home run of the season.

That was the beginning of six straight hits by the Diamondbacks (28-43) in a span of 18 pitches. Included in the onslaught were back-to-back shots by Adam LaRoche, a three-run blast that was his 10th of the year, and Mark Reynolds, who hit his 17th. Gerardo Parra followed with a double but Burnett struck out Diamondbacks starter Rodrigo Lopez to end the inning.

On each of the three home runs, Jorge Posada set up outside and Burnett missed his location badly - down the middle on the first two, inside on the third.

"Just location," Posada said of Burnett's main problem of late. "It's as simple as that. You watch the video and you watch what I think I saw, which is pitches with missed location."

Burnett, who gave up seven runs and nine hits overall, threw 35 pitches in the first inning.

At that point, in Burnett's last 17 innings, he had allowed 21 earned runs, 26 hits - including nine home runs - and nine walks.

When Javier Vazquez went through a similarly bad stretch to start the season, Girardi skipped him a start. But that step with Burnett isn't in the offing.

"Right now it isn't. We won't do that," Girardi said. "Our plans are for him to make a start on Saturday. He's got a chance to turn it around."

The poor start prompted more questions about pitching coach Dave Eiland, who has been missing from the team since June 4 to deal with a personal family matter.

It's not so much about when Eiland will return but what's been missing with him gone. Pitchers have talked about his ability to pick up things off video that they could not, and Burnett and Eiland established an immediate bond last year.

Burnett, whose losing streak has coincided with Eiland's absence, wouldn't use that as an excuse. But it's clear that he misses Eiland, with whom he said he hasn't spoken since he's been away.

"Not having him here is a big loss for all of us," Burnett said. "I'm not going to point fingers or make excuses at all. I'm out there throwing pitches whether Dave's in the dugout or not. He's corrected me enough to where I should have in memory what Dave says. I'm a man and a professional athlete who has a big contract who's here for a reason, and there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to [correct this].''

Girardi became defensive while discussing Mike Harkey, the bullpen coach, who assumed Eiland's role.

"If you're going to place the blame on him, that's not right," Girardi said. "Before today the ERA was actually lower as a staff [under Harkey]. There's consistency here. Yes, we miss Dave but I don't know . . . A.J. knows what he needs to correct. A.J. knows what he needs to do to make pitches. He has to do it."

Girardi also said "I don't discount" that Eiland's absence has had an impact, especially on Burnett. "Dave has an impact on all the pitchers," Girardi said. "Could it? Yes, but I can't tell you that's exactly what it is."

Even after the first inning, Burnett retired the first two batters in the second and fourth but was scored upon in those innings, too. When Chan Ho Park allowed a three-run homer to Upton with two outs in the eighth, it meant the Diamondbacks had scored all 10 of their runs with two outs.

On offense, the Yankees (43-27) were held mostly in check by Lopez, who came in 2-6 with a 4.70 ERA and had lost his last three starts. But Lopez, spotted a 6-0 lead after two innings, limited the Yankees to three runs in eight innings.

Brett Gardner had four hits, three of which never left the infield. The Yankees' AL East lead was cut to a half-game over the idle Rays and Red Sox.

Upton, Parra and Miguel Montero each had three of the Diamondbacks' 13 hits.

Down 6-0, the Yankees got one back in the third as Gardner led off with a single and scored on Nick Swisher's two-out triple, his third of the season.

The Diamondbacks made it 7-1 in the fourth as Upton walked with two outs, stole second and scored on Montero's single to left.

The Yankees cut their deficit to 7-3 in the sixth as Mark Teixeira singled, Alex Rodriguez had an RBI double to right-center and Posada hit a sacrifice fly.

Just as Boone Logan and Chad Gaudin finished up with 52/3 scoreless innings after Burnett departed with a 6-1 deficit against the Phillies, Gaudin and Park pitched 32/3 scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks after Burnett left with a 7-1 deficit. In each case, it was too late, and on Monday night, Upton's three-run shot off Park with two outs in the eighth broke open the game.

Gardner reached on an infield single and scored on Swisher's sacrifice fly in the ninth to make it 10-4.

In his previous start - the one in which Girardi assured Burnett that he'd get fixed - Burnett allowed six runs in 31/3 innings to the Phillies, including a three-run triple by Shane Victorino and back-to-back homers by Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth.

In Burnett's six losses, he has allowed 37 earned runs, 47 hits (11 homers) and 18 walks in 31 innings.

In his six wins, he has given up three earned runs, 28 hits (no home runs) and 10 walks in 421/3 innings.

The four straight losses have lifted Burnett's ERA from 3.28 to 4.83.