YANKS GET BLANKED

Bombers shut out, lose 3 of 4 to last-place Oakland:

OAKLAND — Stephen Drew remained out of the lineup for a second straight game on Sunday, replaced once again by Jose Pirela at second base. Girardi continues to express confidence that Drew will turn it around after his dreadful .157/.225/.301 start, but the manager decided a couple days off to work on his swing in the cage might help the struggling 32-year-old.

“He’s working hard in the cage, and I still think this guy’s too good of a player not to hit,” Girardi said. “We’ve seen him hit a grand slam. We’ve seen him hit three-run homers. We’ve seen him hit the ball out of the ballpark. We’ve seen him impact the baseball. To me, eventually it’s got to even out.”

Pirela went 1-for-3 in Sunday’s loss, lining into a double play and flying out. He’s hitting .222 (8-for36) this season.

“He swung the bat pretty good again today,” Girardi said. “He lined out, he had a base hit. I’m happy with what he’s done the last two days; we’ll continue to evaluate it every day and go from there.”

GEttING clOSE

Alex Rodriguez had two hits on Sunday, bringing him within 14 of becoming the 29th player in history to reach 3,000 hits.

“My focus is on winning games,” Rodriguez said when asked about the upcoming milestone. “Obviously it was a frustrating series.”

A-Rod extended his hitting streak to 10 games with the 2-for-4 afternoon. He’s hitting .405 (15-for37) during the streak, lifting his average from .246 to .281.

StAY DOWN

Chris Martin threw a scoreless inning Saturday in a rehab appearance for Scranton Wilkes/Barre. Sunday, he was activated from the disabled list and told to stay in Scranton as he was optioned to the Triple-A club.

“As we get some guys back, sometimes it gets a little bit crowded,” Girardi said. “What I would tell him is to be ready. When the phone rings, you want to be the guy.”

Martin pitched well in April, posting a 2.45 ERA with one save to become part of Girardi’s set-up crew. But he allowed two runs on five hits and one walk over three appearances (two innings) in May before landing on the DL with right elbow tendinitis.

With the Yankees heading to lefty-heavy Seattle on Monday, they decided to stick with four lefties in the bullpen, sending Martin to Triple-A to work on his stuff.

“At the end, it was a little bit of a struggle for him,” Girardi said. “We’ll see if we can get him back on a roll, and then if we need him, we’ll call him.”

ShORt StOP

Brendan Ryan went 1-for-3 with a double on Sunday, starting his rehab assignment with Class A Tampa.

“Obviously he’s got to get some at-bats, because he really hasn’t had a spring training,” Girardi said. “He’s going to need some at-bats, be able to play a couple days in row, lengthy games, because you never know when you’ll be pressed into action, for three or four days.”