Yankees fall to Texas, 7-2, series tied at 1

ARLINGTON, Texas - This time there was no miracle comeback from five runs down.

And as a result, this American League Championship Series, tied at one game apiece, has become a best-of-five.

With Phil Hughes not missing many barrels and his teammates unable to do much against Colby Lewis, the Yankees fell to the Rangers, 7-2, on Saturday in front of another energetic crowd at Rangers Ballpark.

It was the Rangers' first home postseason victory in franchise history and ended the Yankees' winning streak against Texas in postseason play at 10 games.

The home team won for only the second time in 10 American League postseason games this season.

In Game 3 Monday night at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees' Andy Pettitte, the career leader in postseason victories with 19, will face the Rangers' Cliff Lee, 6-0 with a 1.44 ERA in seven career postseason starts.

Hughes came in with good numbers - albeit in a small sample size - in this park, 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two career starts.

But he was roughed up this time, putting the Yankees in a 5-0 hole after three innings and allowing seven runs, 10 hits and three walks in four innings, the second straight game in the series in which the Yankees' starting pitcher went only four innings.

Hughes did go a little further than CC Sabathia had, pitching to two batters in the fifth. He was relieved by Joba Chamberlain with a runner at third and none out in the fifth after Ian Kinsler's RBI triple, and after Chamberlain struck out David Murphy and Bengie Molina and got ahead of Mitch Moreland 1-and-2, Moreland singled home Kinsler for a 7-1 lead.

Hughes, coming off a Game 3 start against the Twins in which he pitched seven shutout innings, allowed seven extra-base hits - five doubles, a triple and a home run.

Lewis, who had not faced the Yankees since 2003, allowed two runs and six hits in 52/3 innings. Robinson Cano doubled and scored on Lance Berkman's single in the fourth and then homered halfway up the second deck in right in the sixth. But that monstrous shot brought the Yankees only to 7-2.

Hughes' best inning, in some ways, was the first, when he struck out the side. But the Rangers took the lead for good as Elvis Andrus reached on an infield single and scored with two outs on a double steal, the first postseason steal of home since the Angels' Brad Fullmer did it, also on a double steal, in Game 2 of the 2002 World Series.

That was the only "soft" run the Rangers scored off Hughes. They scored twice in the second - on Murphy's homer to right that hit the facing of the second deck and Michael Young's two-out RBI double - and twice in the third on doubles by Nelson Cruz, Murphy and Molina.

After Cano's homer made it 7-2 in the sixth, the Yankees stranded two in the inning when pinch hitter Marcus Thames struck out. They stranded a pair again in the seventh as Alexi Ogando struck out Cano swinging at a 96-mph fastball.

For a second straight night, the Yankees got good performances from their bullpen, as Chamberlain, David Robertson and Boone Logan allowed no runs and two hits in four innings. In Game 1, Chamberlain, winning pitcher Dustin Moseley, Kerry Wood and Mariano Rivera allowed one hit in five scoreless innings.