Nova Pitched Well, But The Offense Didn't Show Up

ARLINGTON -- It just goes to show that no matter how well you pitch, you can't win if you don't score. Continuing to make his case for a permanent rotation spot, Ivan Nova held the Rangers to three runs over seven innings, but took the loss after getting help from his offense.

Nova wasn't at his absolute best, but he still pitched well enough to keep the Yankees within striking distance in the game. After giving up an early lead, the Yankees' bats didn't do much to pick him up.

Texas bounced on top in the first inning off Nova after Adrian Beltre slapped a single to center field to score Ian Kinsler, who single and stole second to set up the RBI chance.

Geovany Soto added to the Rangers' lead in the 6th inning when he doubled deep into the right-center field gap to plate Elvis Andrus, who, again, walked and stole second base to set up the opportunity. Nelson Cruz helped pad the lead in the 7th with solo homerun to left field off Nova to put the Rangers up by three.

Like I said, Nova pitched well on the night, giving the Yankees seven solid innings, allowing only three runs on seven hits, while walking three and striking out four. Although, he didn't see it that way.

"I don't really like it. Even though [it was] only three runs, I didn't throw enough strikes," said Nova. "I couldn't command my curveball really good today. My fastball was off. I don't have a feeling for my changeup. I don't really like it."

"I thought he threw OK," Girardi said. "I didn't think he had his great stuff today, but I thought he competed well and he gave us a chance to win, obviously. He kept us in the game. I thought he did OK."

The Rangers had Yu Darvish on the mound and and, too, pitched well, just better than Nova. Darvish didn't allow a hit until Lyle Overbay dropped a single into left field to open up the 5th inning. Up until that point, Brett Gardner, who was hit by a pitch as the first batter of the game, reached base for the Yankees.

Darvish, like Nova, wasn't on his "A" game, but he keep the Yankees off the board for seven innings, while holding them to just two hits, walking two and striking out four on 90 pitches.

"Once I knew it was Darvish, the first thing in my mind was, 'You've got to keep your team close,'" Nova said. "We're not hitting well lately, and he's a tremendous pitcher."

After handing the ball off to the bullpen, Robbie Ross, Tanner Scheppers and Joe Nathan shut down the Yankees, permitting only one hit, a single off Nathan in the 9th, holding onto the 3-0 victory.

As a team, the Yankees collected just three hits on the night, all of them single just as it was Sunday night. The Yanks' offense hasn't produced anything better than a single since Eduardo Nunez smacked a double against the Red Sox on Saturday.

"It's tough," Jeter said. "We put way too much pressure on our pitching staff. It's hard to pitch like that when we aren't scoring runs for them. You feel as though you've got to be perfect. I'm not a pitcher, but I can only assume.

"I've been in situations where you feel like you've got to score 10 runs. It puts a lot of pressure on your offense. Right now, there's too much pressure on our pitching staff. We've got to find a way to score runs. That's the bottom line. There's no way to sugarcoat it. We just haven't been very good lately."

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