Yanks' rally falls short; A.J. loses, 4-2

Brett Gardner raised his bat above his head and slammed it into the dirt with all his might.

The Yankees finally had come to life in the ninth inning and he had failed to keep the rally going. His game-ending strikeout with runners on first and third capped a 4-2 loss to the Orioles Friday night at the Stadium, their first loss in seven games against last-place Baltimore this season.

With the Yankees down 4-1 against closer Kevin Gregg in the ninth, Robinson Cano doubled off third baseman Mark Reynolds' glove and scored on Nick Swisher's double off the base of the leftfield wall. Eric Chavez flied out before Jorge Posada (2-for-2) walked for the second time. Russell Martin grounded into a forceout at second, but pinch runner Chris Dickerson broke up the potential double play with a hard slide into second baseman Robert Andino, putting runners on first and third.

After falling behind 3-and-1 to Gardner, Gregg threw a two-seamer that appeared outside on replay, but plate umpire Mike DiMuro called it a strike. Then Gregg struck him out swinging to end the game, prompting Gardner to pound the bat into the dirt twice and snap it in two.

"It doesn't matter where it was at. I just wasn't happy with it, I wasn't happy swinging at the 1-0 pitch that was in the dirt," said Gardner, who went 0-for-5. "I was just frustrated with myself. We put together a good rally . . . It's never fun being the last guy going down swinging.''

Gardner took the high road when asked if he was upset with DiMuro's call.

"It doesn't matter what I was upset with," he said. "But yeah, I was just frustrated. I thought it was [away], but it doesn't matter what I thought."

Joe Girardi said he couldn't tell from the dugout if the 3-and-1 pitch was a ball, "but by his frustration, you could tell he thought it was ball four."

Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie (5-14) stymied the Yankees for much of the night. Aside from Mark Teixeira's 29th home run with two outs in the sixth -- which broke a tie with Curtis Granderson for the team lead -- they couldn't generate any offense against the Baltimore righthander in his seven innings.

And while Guthrie cruised, A.J. Burnett (8-9) again teetered between devastatingly dominant and shaky.

The game, which was delayed an hour and 49 minutes because of rain at the outset, extended his winless streak to five starts. The righthander set a season high in strikeouts (10) and tied a season high in innings (eight) but gave up four runs and five hits -- two of which were home runs and three of which were doubles.

But Burnett saw his start as a step in the right direction.

"It was a big step mentally," he said. "I didn't let the homer bother me, I didn't let the other one bother me. I went out there every time with the same [thought process] -- the inning's in the past, close the door, start a fresh inning -- and I gave it all I could."

Burnett needed only 10 pitches (seven strikes) to cruise through a 1-2-3 first inning. But he stumbled in the second, walking Derrek Lee with one out before surrendering a towering homer to Reynolds that made the score 2-0. In the fourth, Vladimir Guerrero hit a ground-rule double over the right-centerfield wall and scored on a double by Lee that sailed over Granderson's outstretched glove. Martin's target had been low and inside, but Burnett served up a high-and-hanging knuckle-curve that fell right in Lee's sweet spot. Lee homered with two outs in the sixth for a 4-0 lead.

Girardi said he thought Burnett pitched well but "he made a couple of mistakes and it really cost him."

Burnett, on the other hand, saw only positives. The only at-bat he said he'd like to do over was Reynolds' home run. Other than that, he was pleased with his performance.

"Where I'm at now, I feel fine," said Burnett, who hasn't won since June 29. "I can't wait to pitch next week. It's a big step mentally. I shut the door on everything that happened negative."