Yankees Blow Another Lead; Lose Fourth Straight Game to A's

Tonight's 7-4 loss to the A's was pretty much an exact replica of yesterday's.

For the first two innings, both starters, Vidal Nuno and Jesse Chavez, kept the game scoreless, before the Yankees' bats suddenly got hot in the third.

In that frame, speedy Outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Brett Gardner got on base for Derek Jeter, who beat out a grounder to short for a go-ahead, RBI Infield Single.

The contest obviously wasn't over at that point, but still, after a following three-run home run from Jacoby Ellsbury it definitely looked favorable.

Or, so it was thought.

On the first pitch of the top of the fourth, Yoenis Cespedes took Nuno deep, putting Oakland on the board. 

It wasn't anything to panic over, but it did begin to turn the tides.

In the A's next at-bat, they'd tack on another thanks to a Sac Fly from Jed Lowrie, knocking Nuno out after 4.2 innings of two-run, 92-pitch ball. 

He wasn't perfect, but considering that the Bombers still led 4-2 the team looked to be in good shape. 

Anyway, after Nuno's exit, Matt Daly came in, inducing a flyout from Josh Donaldson followed by a lead-off homer from Cespedes to start the sixth, his second of the night.

The Pinstripes' lead had fallen to 4-3, something that, after a throwing error from Jeter and a Matt Thornton-allowed single and walk, looked pretty dissatisfying. 

Eventually, Thornton would get out of the jam surrendering just the unearned run, tying the contest.

Later on in the top of the seventh, the earlier-mentioned Donaldson would homer off recent Triple-A call-up Jose Ramirez, causing him to take the loss in his MLB Debut.

In other words, nothing all that new happened in this game. The Yanks got off to a good start, but were again let down by their bullpen.