Hughes leads Yankees to win over Red Sox

Source: FanGraphs

I was unable to watch Thursday night’s game against the Red Sox, so I won’t be able to go into too much detail about what happened. The important thing is that the Yankees won — their first set of consecutive wins since beating the Rangers in three straight back in mid-August — and remain tied atop the AL East with the Orioles. The Rays are four back heading into this weekend three-game set in the Bronx.

Phil Hughes stepped up for the second straight start, though unlike last weekend in Baltimore, he did not surrender the #obligatoryhomer. Seven strikeouts in 7.1 shutout innings, including just five hits (four singles) and a walk. The Red Sox swung and missed 16 times at his 95 pitches, including eleven times at his 51 fastballs. Getting that many whiffs on the heat is damn impressive. By Game Score (74), this was Phil’s second best start of the season behind the complete game in Detroit. The team shutout was New York’s first in Fenway Park since July 2008.

As for the offense, well they put on another RISPFAIL clinic. One-for-nine on the night, with the one being a Derek Jeter bloop single to shallow center in the seventh. Andruw Jones plated the other run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, an inning in which the Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs and only mustered the one run. Apparently Curtis Granderson lined into an inning-ending double play that was just bad luck. Alex Rodriguez and Eduardo Nunez had two hits apiece. The Yankees really should find a way to work Nunez into the lineup a little more often, especially against lefties. Steve Pearce ain’t gettin’ the job done.

I was a little surprised to see that David Robertson pitched again, even if it was only one batter and three pitches. He worked what amounted to two innings on Tuesday and threw again on Wednesday, yet there he was for the third straight day. Joe Girardi has had a real quick hook of late — only once in the last eight games has the starter been allowed to throw 100 pitches, and that was (who else?) CC Sabathia — and his core relievers are being worked hard down the stretch. Just look at the Bullpen Workload page, that’s an awful lot of work for those guys.

Anyway, MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. The Yankees are coming home after going 5-5 on the ten-game road trip, and they have a chance to absolutely bury Tampa this weekend while the Orioles are out on the West Coast. This is as good a time as any to start stringing some wins together, especially with Sabathia on the bump Friday night. He’ll be opposed by David Price. Check out RAB Tickets for some last minute deals if you want to catch the primo pitching matchup.