Twins’ Comeback Keeps Yankees From Padding East Lead [PHOTOS]

MINNEAPOLIS -- Phil Hughes ran out of gas in the seventh inning and Boone Logan couldn't hold the lead for him as the New York Yankees missed a chance to go up 21/2 games on Baltimore in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Hughes (16-13) was strong through six innings and the Yankees jumped out to a 3-1 lead. But he left with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh, and the lefty Logan let one run score on a wild pitch before giving up a two-run double to Denard Span that put the Twins in front.

Joe Mauer followed with his third single of the game to cap the four-run seventh, and the Twins held on to keep the Orioles, who lost to Toronto earlier on Tuesday, 11/2 games back of New York in the AL East.

Nick Swisher homered for the third straight game, Russell Martin also went deep and Andruw Jones hit a pinch-hit solo shot off of closer Glen Perkins in the ninth inning for the Yankees. But Perkins struck out Jayson Nix for his 15th save.

Martin's soaring shot in the seventh off of Casey Fien (2-1) in the seventh was his 19th of the season, which ties a career high, and gave New York a 3-1 lead.

But Hughes ran into trouble in the bottom of the inning after allowing just one run on four hits in the first six. With much better command of his fastball and changeup than he's had lately, Fien retired nine of the next 10 batters after giving up an RBI double to Chris Parmelee in the fourth.

Then things went a little haywire for the 26-year-old right-hander. He gave up a single to Ryan Doumit, walked Parmelee and Jamey Carroll reached on an infield hit with one out to load the bases.

With Hughes at 99 pitches, Yankees manager Joe Girardi went to the lefty Logan to face a string of four straight left-handed hitters in the Twins lineup. Logan's first pitch was wild, getting by Martin to allow Doumit to score. Span followed with the double and Mauer the single to raise his average to .326, just behind Triple Crown candidate Miguel Cabrera (.329) in the American League.

It was a disappointing finish for Hughes, who has won three straight starts and was appearing to pick up steam with the postseason just over a week away. He finished with four runs on six hits and four strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings.

Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a single in the first inning and Robinson Cano went 3 for 3 with a walk for the Yankees, who could have opened their largest division lead since Sept. 1.

Esmerling Vasquez gave up two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in six innings for the Twins.

NOTES
* On Monday night, Curtis Granderson joined Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Jason Giambi as the only Yankees to hit 40-plus HRs in back-to-back seasons. "Especially with the number of guys that have played for the Yankees and put the pinstripes on, at least for one sentence I get to get mentioned with those guys," Granderson said. "That's pretty cool."
* Twins OF Josh Willingham did not play because of a strained left shoulder. He's listed as day-to-day.
* Mauer had only thrown out seven of 56 base runners on the season, but he went 2 for 2 on Tuesday night, getting Ichiro Suzuki and Martin on strike-em-out, throw-em-out double plays in the third and fourth.
* The Twins send RHP Samuel Deduno (6-5, 4.54) to the mound on Wednesday for the finale against LHP CC Sabathia (13-6, 3.47).

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