"It was embarrassing," Punto said after the Twins lost 4-1 to the New York Yankees on Sunday night in Game 3 of their division series.

The Yankees swept the Twins and start the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.

It appeared the Twins had momentum in the eighth inning. Punto, the Twins' second baseman, started with a double, and the Metrodome crowd of 54,735 erupted with a thunderous roar.

Then, Denard Span hit a chopper through the middle of the infield. Derek Jeter fielded the ball but had no play on speedy Span as Punto rounded third. Jeter threw to catcher Jorge Posada.

Punto stopped and ran back toward third, but Posada's throw to Alex Rodriguez nailed him for the first out of the inning. Orlando Cabrera flied out, and Joe Mauer grounded out to end the threat.

Twins third-base coach Scott Ullger said that Punto "was running with his head down. He didn't look up. He thought it was a single that was going through. It was a big mistake by him."

Punto agreed.

"It was a terrible play in that situation," Punto said. "It's hard to swallow. All I heard was 55,000 fans screaming and yelling. I thought the ball had gone through."

When Punto looked up, he was surprised Posada had the ball.

"I'm really upset," he said. "I wanted to dig a hole and crawl in."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that Jeter, Posada and Rodriguez each made a heads-up play. "That's why you like experience at this time of year," Girardi said.

The Twins' clubhouse was quiet. Players were hugging each other and talking about how difficult it is to beat the Yankees, who were 10-0 against them.

"It's frustrating to lose to any team," Span said. "It's been a sad song for us with the Yankees all year long. They've walked us off several times."

Closer Joe Nathan was getting hugs from teammates.

"This isn't the time to talk about one play or one player," Nathan said. "We had our opportunities to win. I'm not going to get into shoulda, woulda, coulda."