Errors hurt as Yanks drop series to Tigers

DETROIT -- The Yankees' nearly comatose offense helped sink Freddy Garcia Wednesday and CC Sabathia the night before that.

Thursday it was A.J. Burnett's turn though, in fairness, it wasn't just the offense that was culpable for a sloppy 6-3 loss to the Tigers in front of 30,572 at Comerica Park.

For the Yankees (17-12), who won the series opener Monday, it was their third straight loss. They made Rick Porcello labor throughout, and had eight hits off the righthander in seven innings, but got few when they needed them most.

"We pitched well," Mark Teixeira said of the last three games. "But we didn't play defense and we didn't hit when we needed to."

Three errors, two by Eduardo Nunez -- getting the start for Derek Jeter, who got the day off -- and one by Burnett, led to three unearned runs.

The series also featured back-to-back games in which the Yankees had a combined six runners thrown out on the basepaths.

"This has not been a pretty series for us," said Alex Rodriguez, who was 2-for-2 after replacing Eric Chavez, who broke a bone in his left foot in the fourth inning heading to third for a triple. "We pride ourselves on playing good fundamental baseball and we have not done that the last three games."

Burnett, coming up on the 10-year anniversary of his no-hitter -- thrown May 12, 2001, against the Padres when he struck out seven and walked nine -- no-hit the Tigers through five innings. No. 9 hitter Ramon Santiago, who had three hits in the series opener Monday, ripped a grounder past Mark Teixeira to break up the bid leading off the sixth.

Brennan Boesch's two-out single to center later in the inning brought in Santiago to tie it at 2.

The Tigers took control in the seventh, scoring three runs, one of them earned. Victor Martinez singled to start the inning and Burnett walked Magglio Ordonez before hitting Ryan Raburn to load the bases. Brandon Inge's sacrifice fly put the Tigers ahead 3-2 and, after Santiago grounded out, Nunez's high throw over Teixeira on Don Kelly's routine grounder brought in two more Tigers to make it 5-2.

Burnett allowed five runs -- two earned -- and three hits in seven innings. He struck out five, walked one and hit two batters.

Boesch's homer to lead off the eighth against Boone Logan made it 6-2.

What steamed Burnett, and what still had him ticked afterward, wasn't Nunez's seventh-inning error, but his pitch that hit Raburn, who was trying to lay down a sacrifice bunt.

"You can't drill a dude in a bunt situation," Burnett said. "It comes down to that walk and, I know I keep saying it, making a pitch right there [to Raburn]. You have an out situation, you have to get an out. Doesn't matter what Nunez does. I get an out right there or make a better pitch to Ordonez, then [Nunez] is not in that situation, so that's definitely on me."

The general odorous way the last three games went, there was plenty culpability to go around.

"You don't like losing games like this one," Joe Girardi said. "It happens, sometimes frustration sets in by your players because you're not getting base hits or you're swinging the bats well and you're not getting base hits and things happen.

"One thing is, you're going to go through this as a club and you have to fight your way out of it. You have to come out, play a good game tomorrow and put these three games behind you."