AUBURN - All it takes is one bad inning.

In his second straight outing, that's what Castillo Perez learned the hard way.

At Falcon Park on Sunday, the Auburn Doubledays starter bulldozed his way through five 2-3 innings of work, but it was the second frame that saw him get his third loss of the season.

A Mike Lyon solo home run led off the three run inning, and Staten Island (13-7)went on to take the series - and solo ownership of the New York-Penn League's best record - with the 4-2 win.

The Doubledays (12-8) look to avoid the sweep in the final game of the series tonight, but the Yankees will be trying for their ninth straight win. With two strikeouts each in the first and third, Perez retired batters in order in every inning but the second for a mostly fantastic outing.

“He pitched just enough to lose,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “He had one bad inning. The ballgame was right there, but he was rushing it and it just seemed like he was trying to put out a fire or something. But as far as I know, there were no fires in the city of Auburn today. Not only that, but he's not a fireman.”

Kyle Walter replaced him on the mound with one on and two outs in the sixth and proceeded to have his own private party on the hill, with four strikeouts and just three hits allowed.

“Kyle Walter was outstanding,” Holmberg said. “He's pitching in a role where's he's kind of a spot reliever, or a spot starter. I was very happy with his performance tonight.”

Dan Brewer brought in a big insurance run on an one-out single in the eighth, scoring Jack Rye. The Doubledays were inching their way back into the game until that point, with a run in the fourth and fifth. Auburn stranded five batters overall on the bags, but Adam Amar brought in Bartolo Nicolas on a big line drive single in the fourth to put Auburn on the board. With two runners in scoring position, Bryan Kervin then hit into the first of two Yankees double plays. Chris Demons belted in Carlos Vasquez the next inning on a sacrifice fly to center field. Twice more, the Doubledays sent runners into scoring position, but a lack of timely hitting continued to plague the team.

Each squad put up eight hits and the Yankees left seven runners stranded - which made the second inning even more crucial to the game.

“It was a classic example of less is more, not more is more,” Holmberg said of Perez. “It was a good learning experience for him, though. He can understand and appreciate what happened tonight.”

Notes: Doubledays catcher Joel Collins was in on two big plays that could have made the score more lopsided. Collins tagged out Melky Mesa on a perfect Nicolas outfield throw in the seventh and in the ninth, he caught Walter Ibarra stealing by throwing him out at second base. ... Perez and Walter combined to throw 10 strikeouts, while three Yankees pitchers tossed out seven Doubledays. ... Nick Montgomery made his professional debut for Staten Island, but lasted just four innings in the start. Andrew Shive earned his second win of the year. ... Blue Jays first rounder David Cooper continued his hot streak by going 3-for-3 with a double. ... Ambidextrous Staten Island pitcher Pat Venditte made his much-anticipated Auburn debut in the ninth, when he threw 10 pitches (two left-handed) to earn his fifth save of the season.