Yanks blow it

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 14- On Saturday afternoon, Phil Hughes of the Yanks and Samuel Deduno hooked up as starters for the second time in ten days. On July 2, Deduno yielded three runs and received the loss while Hughes only gave up a single run and earned the win. The outcome was very different on Saturday afternoon.

The Yankees struck first by putting up a run with only one out in the first frame. Ichiro Suzuki doubled and scored on a single to center by the next batter, Robinson Cano.
The Yankees did not score again in the next 8.2 innings. Girardi credited the Twins starter, “Deduno’s been really tough on us; he’s given us trouble.” The Dominican native surrendered only one run and six hits in seven innings to earn the win.”

Hughes, as often takes place, was stung by the long ball. The game was knotted at one in the third as Trevor Plouffe parked his 10th home run in the seats in left field. The homer was Plouffe’s second off Hughes in his eighth at bat. Of the first homer off Hughes in the game, Yankee manager Joe Girardi remarked, “It was a fastball that ran back across the plate.”

The tie was broken with one out in the top of the seventh when Ryan Doumit blasted a slider into the right field seats. Doumit can accurately be termed a Yankee killer as he is batting .334 (28 for 83) against Yankees pitching. The catcher is even more effective against the pitches of Hughes as the home run was his seventh hit in 12 at bats against the righty.

The third home run given up by Hughes tied his single game high of this season, previously done on April 13, and was his final pitch of the afternoon.

Aaron Hicks led off the eighth with a single. He was followed by Clete Thomas, who was ruled out for interference. Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire vehemently argued against the call and was ejected for the 65th time in his career and the third time in 2013. The beef may have disturbed Hughes more than any member of the Twins as the next batter, Pedro Florimon, hit a 2-2 pitch for the third homer of the contest.

Girardi, in general, was very pleased with the performance of Hughes, “I thought he threw the ball exceptionally well except for a few mistakes. He’s going to give up some home runs.”

Speaking of the Yankees less than powerful offense this year, Girardi stated, “You’re going to make some mistakes [but] in a game like this, you can’t. I think we can be better, more consistent. I don’t think it’s an offense that can score six runs a game.”

Hughes talked about working harder to eliminate every pitching mistake, “I had one or two mistakes that I have to stay away from. I have to really concentrate on locating. I have to try to execute every single pitch.”

The rubber game of the three game series and the final game before the All-Star break will be played on Sunday afternoon with C.C. Sabathia (9-7) and Kyle Gibson (1-2) in the roles as starters.