The Yankees coughed up a 4-2 lead in the seventh and lost for the first time this spring when a ninth-inning rally came up a run short.

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (DH)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Hideki Matsui (LF)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
R – Josh Phelps (1B)
R – Miguel Cairo (2B)
L – Kevin Reese (RF)
R – Wil Nieves (C)

Pitchers: Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth

Subs: Eric Duncan (1B), Andy Cannizaro (2B), Angel Chavez (SS), Alberto Gonzalez (3B), Raul Chavez (C), Kevin Thompson (CF), Jose Tabata (PR/LF), Bronson Sardinha (DH)

Opposition: Something like two-thirds of the Indians starters, including Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, and Victor Martinez.

Big Hits: Two-run homers by Kevin Reese (3 for 4) and Josh Phelps (1 for 3).

Who Pitched Well: Phil Hughes recovered nicely from his shaky first outing with two scoreless innings, striking out one and getting the rest of his outs on the ground. He allowed a hit and a walk, but only faced the minimum six batters because he picked Dave Dellucci (the walk) off first base in the fourth and followed Hector Luna’s fifth-inning single by getting Mike Rouse to ground into a double play.

Who Didn’t: Chien-Ming Wang was greeted with a homer by Grady Sizemore on his third pitch. In the third, Mike Rouse tripled off Wang and was plated by a Sizemore sac fly. In his three innings of work, Wang allowed a total of five hits, though he still got two-thirds of his outs on the ground (no Ks). In two innings of work, Ross Ohlendorf struck out three and induced a double play, but also walked one and allowed four hits. Of those four hits, Luis Rivas’s double and Michael Aubrey’s single followed an Alberto Gonzalez error in the seventh to plate three unearned runs as the Indians tied the game. Kyle Farnsworth allowed a run on two hits in the eighth, which prevented the Yankees’ ninth-inning run from tying the game.

Oopsies: Alberto Gonzalez, who committed the Yankees only other position-player error this spring by booting a ball at second, booted a ball at third in the seventh to kick start that three-run Indians rally.

Battles: Josh Phelps’s homer was his first extra-base hit of the spring. He’s now 4 for 8 with two walks and just one strikeout. Wil Nieves went 1 for 2. Raul Chavez went 0 for 1 with a sac fly to drive in the final Yankee run. If you doc Chavez an at-bat for the sac fly, both he and Nieves would be 2 for 7 with no extra base hits or walks and one strikeout in three games each. Ben Davis and the injured Todd Pratt are a combined 0 for 5.