NEW YORK (AP) — Hitless at the plate, Robinson Cano isn’t getting a break with the umpires, either.

The slumping All-Star second baseman could only plead his case to no avail Sunday after a missed call by an umpire helped the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 3-0 Sunday.

And, just like that, the Tigers once again tagged the Yankees, taking a 2-0 lead in the AL championship series.

An MVP-caliber player for much of the summer, Cano has been a playoff bust.

He is hitless in a postseason record 26 straight at-bats and two for 32 overall (.063). His failure to run hard out of the batter’s box has become glaring. And, he let the ball pop out of his hand in the seventh inning, allowing Detroit’s first run to score.

Then he wound up on the wrong side of a call by second base umpire Jeff Nelson, who missed seeing Cano tag Omar Infante.

Instead of the third out, the Tigers turned it into a two-run eighth and expanded their lead.

Derek Jeter’s broken ankle seems to have left most of the rest of New York’s batting order hurting, too, with Raul Ibanez, Mark Teixeira and Ichiro Suzuki the only consistent threats.

The Yankees got just four hits, and gave them a .205 average (53 for 258) in the playoffs. They were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 10 for 50.

Comments are not available on this story.