Yankees manager Joe Girardi had called last night a “personality start” for Phil Hughes. If that was the case, it was harder to read than Sybil.
The stuff was solid, the results mediocre, at best. Hughes got his first win, but probably deserved another loss, but the Yankees were able to beat the Twins 7-6 in The Bronx.
Hughes (1-2) allowed six runs, four in the first inning. But just two of the runs were earned, and he looked far better than he had in going 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in his first two starts. With Andy Pettitte and Michael Pineda close to returning and David Phelps pitching well, Hughes needed to improve for both his spot in the rotation and his own psyche.
“I thought he was better. He settled down nice [in innings] two-through-five. A part of [the four-run first] was his doing; a part of it wasn’t.” Girardi said. “Overall, I thought he was better.’’
The part of the first inning that wasn’t Hughes fault was Eduardo Nunez’s throwing error. With the bases loaded and two out, Ryan Doumit beat the shift for a two-run single to left. In keeping with his inability to finish off hitters, Hughes hung an 0-2 slider, which Danny Valencia hit to left-center for a double and a 4-0 lead.
“I tried to find a way to put that behind me and continue on,” said Hughes, whose team scored seven unanswered runs. “Fortunately our offense came up big.
Despite the error, Hughes defended Nunez.
“It’s baseball,” he said. “I make a ton of mistakes, and the fielders make mistakes too. It’s part of the game. I had to try and find a way to get out of that inning with just the two runs. Unfortunately I gave up the double.
“It was a rough way to start things out, but fortunately we scored a lot of runs and it’s nice to get the win. … My stuff was good, my fastball was pretty good and my curveball was the best it’s been in a while. There were some encouraging things. [It was] far from a good outing but [there] still [were] some positives.’’
The first inning was a microcosm of Hughes’ failure to change hitters’ eye levels, and his propensity to get punished up in the zone. But he retired 10 of 11 Twins before hanging a 1-0 changeup that Valencia drilled for a two-run homer. That cut the Yankees lead to 7-6 and ended Hughes’ night with a final line of 5 1/3 innings pitches, allowing six hits, six runs, two walks and four strikeouts.
“Phil did a good job,’’ Derek Jeter said. “We gave him an extra out there in the first inning, and they capitalized on it. But I thought he pitched well.’’