Notebook: Punchless Yankees turn electric park dark

NEW YORK –

There was an electric current running through Yankee Stadium on Sunday. The sold-out house was crackling during the Derek Jeter Day ceremonies. And then the Yankees came out for the game and turned off the power.

It was another punchless day at the ballpark for them. The Yankees managed all of four singles and fell 2-0 on two unearned runs to Central-leading Kansas City in the rubber game of the series.

The Yankees also were blanked in the series opener, 1-0 on another unearned run.

So they have been shut out five times dating to Aug. 9.

They fell to 73-68 and remained 4½ back of Seattle for the second wild card with 21 to play.

"We needed to win," manager Joe Girardi said. "That's the bottom line. That's the frustrating part."

Shane Greene (4-3) gave up the two runs on five hits in five innings.

In the second inning, there were runners at first and second with two outs when Nori Aoki hit a roller up the first-base line. Greene threw wildly to first on what was scored a hit and an error.

Then Carlos Beltran dropped Alex Gordon's leadoff liner to right in the third. One out later, Gordon stole second and scored on a single by Eric Hosmer.

The Yankees managed three hits and four walks against Yordano Ventura (12-9) in his six-plus innings.

"I'll never give up on them," Girardi said about his inconsistent hitters. "It's not my personality."

Gardner update: Brett Gardner sat out his second straight game with a lower abdominal injury. He said it could be a strain, but he wasn't sure.

Asked if he felt it could worsen by playing, Gardner said, "Just the way it feels like, it could."

Phelps feeling good: David Phelps threw a 31-pitch simulated game and reported no pain in his upper right elbow.

He will return from the disabled list as a reliever. There was no immediate word about activating him.

"I feel like I made some good pitches," Phelps said. "It was just nice to be out there with some adrenaline flowing. ... It feels good enough to get guys out right now."

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