Francoeur's walk-off HBP beats Mo, Yankees, 7-6

ARLINGTON, Texas - The Yankees flew to Texas Thursday feeling pretty good about themselves, holding a 21/2-game lead over Tampa Bay after Nick Swisher's walk-off homer saved them from a three-game sweep at the hands of the Orioles.

But by Sunday night, the Yankees might not be in first place anymore.

In another marathon game - one made longer by a 59-minute rain delay - the Rangers handed the Yankees a second straight crushing defeat Saturday night, 7-6, this one featuring the always shocking occurrence of Mariano Rivera blowing a save.

Rivera began the ninth with a one-run lead but wound up hitting former Met Jeff Francoeur with his first pitch to him to force home the winning run. He retired only one of the six batters he faced and blew a save for only the third time in 32 opportunities this season.

With the Rays' victory over the Blue Jays, the Yankees - who have lost five of their last six games - saw their lead in the AL East trimmed to a half-game. Even with Cliff Lee's recent struggles, the Rangers have to like their chances in Sunday's series finale as they send the lefthander to the mound against Dustin Moseley.

Alex Rodriguez's three-run double off lefthander Matt Harrison in the eighth turned a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 Yankees lead. Kerry Wood got through the bottom of the eighth and turned it over to Rivera, who had thrown 23 pitches in two scoreless innings Friday.

He got into trouble immediately, walking Vladimir Guerrero on five pitches to start the inning and allowing a single by Nelson Cruz that put runners on first and third. Ian Kinsler's RBI double tied the score, and after Chris Davis was intentionally walked to load the bases and Andres Blanco popped to first, Rivera's first pitch to Francoeur hit him in the left shoulder to end the game.

Joe Girardi said of using Rivera after he threw two innings the night before: "He only threw 23 pitches yesterday. It wasn't like he threw 40 pitches in two innings. In that situation, I wouldn't have used him."

Asked a couple of different times about that, Girardi grew irritated: "He didn't throw a lot of pitches. I don't know how many times I have to say it. He didn't throw 50 pitches, he threw 23 pitches."

Said Rivera, "I felt great. Last night I threw 20-some pitches. I felt real good today. It's not that, it's that you go in there and walk the first guy, and then anything can happen."

Rivera said walking the leadoff batter bothered him more than anything. "Definitely. You don't want to go in there in situations like that and walk the leadoff guy. That's unacceptable. That's what bothers me the most."

He said Esteban German, who pinch ran for Guerrero, caused him to be "a little bit quicker to the plate."

Added Rivera, "It's one of those games that bothers you. The first guy is setting the tone and I walked the guy."

The Yankees had missed a chance to add to their lead in the top of the ninth. Eduardo Nuñez reached on an infield single, stole second and reached third when Francisco Cervelli dropped a sacrifice bunt on a 3-and-0 pitch. But Marcus Thames flied to short left and Swisher grounded out.

The Yankees left 14 runners on base and went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position after leaving 18 on base and going 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position in a 13-inning, 6-5 loss to Texas in the first game of the series.

With the Yankees trailing 4-3 and one out in the seventh, Jorge Posada pinch hit with the bases loaded and bounced into an inning-ending double play. It was the sixth time in two games a Yankee had batted with the bases loaded and ended the inning with no runs scoring. A-Rod's big hit over third base and down the leftfield line, which gave him 105 RBIs, put an end to that streak.

The teams combined to use 14 pitchers one night after combining to use 19 pitchers, an American League record for an extra-inning game. The first game of the series lasted 5 hours, 12 minutes and the second took 4 hours, 16 minutes to complete, not including a rain delay of 59 minutes in the fifth.

"We fought back today so we'll fight again tomorrow,'' Girardi said. "We'll go out there, guys will play hard and we'll do everything we can to win."

After the rain delay, Chad Gaudin, who allowed Cruz's game-winning homer early Saturday morning on the first pitch of the bottom of the 13th, replaced starter A.J. Burnett to resume the fifth. Gaudin also began the sixth, and Texas took a 4-2 lead in the inning as Francoeur delivered a sacrifice fly against David Robertson and Elvis Andrus' two-out single drove in another run.

Mark Teixeira singled to start the seventh, and after A-Rod flied to deep center, Robinson Cano singled. Lance Berkman walked to load the bases and Pedro Strop's wild pitch allowed a run to score. But Mitch Moreland's two-out RBI single off Robertson in the seventh made it 5-3.

Burnett came in having won just once in his previous seven starts - 1-5 with a 6.91 ERA in that stretch. He walked leadoff man Andrus, who wound up scoring on Guerrero's two-out single to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. In Burnett's 29 starts this season, he's allowed the first run in 19 of them.

The Yankees came back against Tommy Hunter in the second. Cano doubled into the rightfield corner with one out and scored on Berkman's single to right, making the DH 10-for-20 since coming off the disabled list Sept. 1. Granderson then singled and Cervelli delivered a two-out RBI single. The hit made Cervelli 15-for-38 with 22 RBIs this season with RISP and two outs.

"It seems like the last four we've played have been like this one,'' Girardi said. "They've been see-saw battles. It's just two good clubs playing against each other and continuing to put good at-bats on pitchers and finding ways to score runs."

Notes & quotes: Austin Kearns pinch hit for Brett Gardner, whose right wrist had been acting up recently. Girardi and Gardner said it probably was the result of getting hit by a pitch against the Dodgers in late June. Girardi said he wasn't planning to play Gardner against Lee on Sunday anyway. With the Yankees traveling to St. Petersburg, Fla., to face the Rays this week, Gardner said he anticipates getting an MRI done in Tampa just to make sure there's nothing more severe than regular wear and tear. "It's just been getting a little worse every day,'' he said, "and we don't want to do anything to make it even worse."