By Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The Yankees comeback fell flat this time around.
Yankees starter Phil Hughes was roughed up for seven runs and New York's rally fell short when they left several runners stranded in a 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers on Saturday, evening up the best-of-seven game series at 1-1.
From the beginning, it didn't seem like it would be the Bronx Bombers' night. Rangers shortstop Elvin Andrus stole third and then home to put the Rangers up 1-0 in the first inning.
"Every time we go out there and play, we don’t want to wait around for a couple of innings and feel our way around," Michael Young told reporters. "We want to attack from the first pitch."
Hughes, who was coming off a dominant playoff win over the Minnesota Twins, gave up 10 hits and seven runs in a little more than four innings of work.
But unlike Friday, when the Rangers bullpen imploded in the eighth inning, the Yankees couldn't crawl back this time.
"Today was a lot more important for the Rangers after having lost that lead yesterday," Yankees' designated hitter Lance Berkman told reporters. "You knew it would be a hard-fought series."
The series resumes Monday when Andy Pettitte faces off against Rangers ace Cliff Lee.
"Cliff Lee doesn't beat himself. And he's going to throw a lot of strikes," Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters. "The guy that's getting lost in this is Andy Pettitte, and he's pretty good."
