"When you face an elite pitcher, you usually get one crack at him," Rodriguez said. "We had it and we came up short tonight."
A matter of inches decided that outcome. Dustin Ackley reached on a Cliff Pennington error, Jacoby Ellsbury singled and Brett Gardner walked to load the bases for A-Rod, whose battle against Price featured five foul balls -- including a flare to right field that very nearly hit the painted white line.
First-base umpire Chad Fairchild ruled, correctly, that the ball had landed foul; had it been fair, the bases might have been cleared.