Game Two: Yanks 7 Blue Jays 2

MLB.com Recap:

NEW YORK — Every day, the spotlight that follows the Yankees seems to be trained on the players who aren’t with the team. But that changed Saturday, when Robinson Cano, the lone regular in an infield decimated by injuries, hit two home runs to lead New York to a 7-2 win over Toronto.

Cano, the only Yankees hitter this season to have a multihomer game, went deep twice off Toronto starter Brandon Morrow, accounting for four of New York’s seven runs. Cano, a quarter of the way into the season, leads the Yankees in batting average (.295), home runs (12) and RBIs (31).

And while that production may not be surprising, the circumstances might qualify as a shock. Established stars like Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have yet to play a game this season, but Cano is batting .362 (34-for-94) with seven home runs as New York’s No. 2 hitter.

“I’m glad that’s not a moving part,” said manager Joe Girardi. “Robbie’s so important to us. Offensively, defensively, his presence in the lineup. He’s not someone you can replace.”

Cano also posted a multihomer game on April 8, and he’s about a month ahead of the torrid pace he set last season. New York’s second baseman set a personal best with 33 home runs last year, but he didn’t hit No. 12 until June 17, when the Yankees were playing their 65th game of the season.

The Yankees used Cano as a No. 3 or cleanup hitter most of the time last season, but he’s moved up higher in the batting order as a reaction to the team’s patchwork lineup. Cano is batting .320 (49-for-153) in his last 37 games, and he leads the team in runs scored (25) and extra-base hits (23).

“Any place you put him, he’s going to be successful. You can move him around,” said Girardi. “He’s done a nice job adjusting to the two-hole for us. He’s got 31 RBIs, and he’s hit second a lot for us. It doesn’t really matter where he hits. He’s going to get his numbers. And that really helps us out that he has that versatility. … He makes everyone better around him. That’s the type of player he is.”…..Read More

Box Score and Highlights:

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Game One: Yanks 5 Blue Jays 0

MLB.com Recap:

NEW YORK — The Yankees of 2013 were expected to be an old story, not one rehashed and retold, but one with wrinkles, one that prompted observers to count the rings in the trunk and gray hairs on their heads. Aged to perfection was 2009. This season was merely about age, too much of it. The Yankees were the appropriate age to fall and not get up and to finish among the also-rans in the American League. And when injury visited them and then became guilty of felony piling on, the adjusted assessments were for an even more bleak season.

At the same time, the Blue Jays of 2013 were expected to move north in the standings, one year after the fall of the Red Sox and simultaneous with the decline of the octogenarians in the Bronx.

Now, 42 games into their seasons, the Yankees are in first place in the AL East, the Jays are in last, nine games back. And the status of each is due, in large part, to the Yankees’ dominance of the team from Canada.

The Yankees had their way with the Jays again Friday night. Their 5-0 victory was their seventh win in eight games against John Gibbons’ disappointing team. This one was a byproduct of wonderful pitching by 38-year-old Hiroki Kuroda and the exploits of a couple of kids who have yet to earn their (pin)stripes.

Kuroda contributed eight innings of two-hit pitching, and 20-somethings David Adams and Austin Romine, each an understudy for an understudy, made significant contributions to an offense that overcame Mark Buehrle. Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis and Francisco Cervelli are baseball-incapacitated. But the kids are all right.

Adams, in his third game in the big leagues, produced two hits and scored twice; Romine, now a veteran of eight games, had two hits, one RBI and one run scored. Kuroda and the kids had some help, but they were primarily responsible for the Yankees’ eighth victory in 11 games — also the Jays’ first loss in five.

Make no mistake, these are kids, if not by calendar, then by resumé or appearance. In the afterglow of this one, a Yankees minion slipped a parking pass on the stool in front of Adams’ locker. “Proof you’ve made it,” the rookie third baseman was told. “I don’t even have a car here,” he said. Some wondered whether he were old enough to have a license.

Vernon Wells, the veteran who measures time by Yankees injuries — “Three injuries ago, we yada, yada, yada” — noted that the young players seem quite comfortable in their new surroundings then reasoned, “They should because they were all together down there.”

Adams turned 26 this week. Romine is 24. The two had combined for 19 at-bats, all Romine’s in 2011, before April 27. And there was Romine catching a pitcher 14 years his senior…….Read More

Box Score and Highlights:

MLB.com Recap:

NEW YORK — Andy Pettitte became the latest victim of the Yankees’ season-long injury rash, forced to leave in the fifth inning and later saddled with the loss as the Mariners defeated New York, 3-2, on Thursday.

Pettitte appeared to wince after throwing his 79th pitch of the evening, a swinging strikeout of Kyle Seager, and left the field after a brief discussion with Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

The Yankees announced that Pettitte left the game with a tight left trapezius muscle in his upper back.

The veteran left-hander allowed two runs and four hits over 4 2/3 innings, having permitted a run-scoring double to Dustin Ackley in the second inning and a run-scoring infield single to Brendan Ryan in the fourth.

Pettitte pitched out of trouble in the fourth, leaving the bases loaded, and finished having walked three and struck out five with a wild pitch. Yankees reliever Shawn Kelley struck out five in two innings of work, but also served up a long solo home run to Michael Morse in the sixth inning.

The Yankees managed an unearned run in 4 1/3 innings against right-hander Hector Noesi — making a spot start for Aaron Harang, who was scratched with back stiffness — as rookie David Adams collected his first Major League RBI with a double to right-center field that drove in Curtis Granderson in the second inning.

Noesi limited his former team to three hits with a walk and four strikeouts before yielding to Oliver Perez, who provided 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Robinson Cano’s infield single in the seventh inning facing left-hander Lucas Luetge brought in New York’s second run, but Carter Capps got Vernon Wells to pop out on the first pitch he threw, leaving two men aboard and spoiling a key opportunity……Read More  

Box Score and Highlights:

Game Two: Mariners 12 Yanks 2

MLB.com Recap:

NEW YORK — There were still paying customers filtering into Yankee Stadium’s seating areas by the time Phil Hughes slumped onto the dugout bench, his night’s work cut short and the top of the first inning still incomplete.

The Yankees right-hander spent all of 17 minutes frantically trying to adjust to his situation on Wednesday, but it wasn’t to be. The Mariners batted around for seven runs and chased Hughes in the first inning, coasting to a 12-2 blowout victory in the Bronx.

“It seems to go by pretty quick,” Hughes said. “Everything kind of speeds up. You’re just trying to find something, and next thing you know, you’ve got two outs and seven runs are in. It’s tough.”

Raul Ibanez homered twice and collected six RBIs, including a grand slam off Hughes in a disastrous first inning that saw 11 Seattle players come to bat, 10 of them against Hughes. Kyle Seager later slugged a three-run homer off rookie Brett Marshall as the Mariners set a new season high in runs scored.

Hughes was left holding the bag after his shortest career outing, lasting just two-thirds of an inning. Generally a fly ball pitcher even on his good days, Hughes was constantly up in the zone while hitting the fat part of the plate, and the Mariners gleefully took advantage.

“Obviously there too many balls in the middle of the plate, and he didn’t locate enough pitches,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “And he got hurt.”

The start was the shortest by a Yankee since Bartolo Colon allowed six runs and also recorded two outs on July 14, 2011, against the Blue Jays in Toronto. Hughes said that he tried his changeup, slider and curveball, to no avail.

“Hopefully, this is a 1-in-100 type thing,” Hughes said. “I remember I’ve had bad nights where I’d get 12 outs or something, but I don’t think I can remember having an outing like this before.

“It’s tough to swallow, but it happens to everybody. No one’s going to feel sorry for you, so I have to throw my bullpen in two days and move on.”

Yankees catcher Chris Stewart said that the pivotal at-bat was Ibanez’s; if Hughes could’ve coaxed a double-play grounder in that spot, he might have escaped with just two runs on the board and then settled in to provide a decent outing.

“I think it happens to a lot of guys,” Stewart said. “They struggle the first inning, come in and settle down and figure out what they were doing out there and make a change. But we couldn’t get him through that.”

For Ibanez, the display conjured memories of his sensational hot stretch last September and October in pinstripes; even in a different uniform, Yankee Stadium’s dimensions still agree with the professional hitter…….Read More

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Game One: Yanks 4 Mariners 3

MLB.com Recap:

NEW YORK — The Yankees are deeper than they were on Monday, and they haven’t lost any of their trademark resilience. New York welcomed Curtis Granderson back to the fold against Seattle on Tuesday, and then it employed a patient wait-and-see approach against Felix Hernandez.

The Yankees couldn’t solve Seattle’s ace — a common cause celebre among American League teams — but they took advantage of his early exit. Hernandez left with a two-run lead after six innings, and the Yankees used a key seventh-inning rally to earn a 4-3 victory over the Mariners.

Granderson went hitless in the victory, his first game after starting the season on the disabled list. The Yankees are still without injured regulars Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, but manager Joe Girardi loves the way that his team has met the challenge.

“I still think we have a lot of really good players,” said Girardi. “Maybe not the names of the guys we’re used to having here, but guys that have had big years. This group has worked really hard. As a manager and as a coaching staff, we appreciate what they’re doing. We’ve also got to applaud them because they’re playing extremely well. It seems to be a different guy every night finding a way to get it done for us. It’s been a good month and a half, but we know we have a long way to go.”

That philosophy will serve the Yankees (25-14) well in the turbulent AL East, and it even worked against Hernandez. Robinson Cano came through with the game’s big hit, a two-run double to the gap in right-center field, and he later scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Lyle Overbay.

“We were kind of battling,” Overbay said of the Yankees’ struggles against Hernandez. “His changeup is so late-breaking and it looks like his fastball. He doesn’t make too many mistakes. I think we fouled [some] off and had a couple of good at-bats to get him deep into the pitch count. Some days, it’s like, ‘Let’s see if we can get to the bullpen.’”

The Mariners, prior to that reversal of fortune, had owned the game’s momentum. Seattle used an error and a Kyle Seager double to score the game’s first run in the third inning. Three innings later, Raul Ibanez drilled a two-run homer down the right-field line to give Seattle (18-21) a three-run lead.

“He made a mistake to Raul,” Girardi said of starter CC Sabathia. “We got pretty accustomed to seeing [that] when you make a mistake to Raul, a lot of the time, he hits it out of the ballpark.”….Read More

Box Score and Highlights:

Game Two: Yanks 7 Indians 0

MLB.com Recap:

CLEVELAND — The Yankees’ pantheon of starting pitchers is chock full of legends such as Whitey Ford, Roger Clemens and Ron Guidry.

David Phelps, Vidal Nuno and Adam Warren have yet to etch their names into pinstripes lore. On Monday, though, the three young hurlers proved plenty capable in helping the storied franchise’s cause.

The trio of pitchers provided New York with quality efforts to help the battered, bruised and worn — yet surging — Yankees to a split of Monday’s doubleheader in Cleveland. Nuno delivered five stellar innings to guide the Yankees to a 7-0 win in the second tilt after New York dropped the opener, 1-0, despite 6 2/3 effective frames from Phelps.

“Coming into a doubleheader, you think about an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Warren said, “but we got some good innings out of our starters, which made it easier on our bullpen guys.”

The performances by Phelps, Nuno and Warren — who earned his first career save with four scoreless innings of relief in Game 2 — prevented the Yankees from overworking an already-taxed bullpen. With closer Mariano Rivera and setup man David Robertson unavailable for either contest, the Yankees had only four viable bullpen options for the first tilt and five for the second. Between games, the club promoted Brett Marshall to the big league squad…….Read More 

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Game One: Indians 1 Yanks 0

MLB.com Recap:

CLEVELAND — The Yankees are in it for the long haul, and that means manager Joe Girardi must preserve his players’ health and energy levels.

So for Monday’s doubleheader in Cleveland, the skipper opted not to press his veterans into extra duty. As a result, a patchwork Yankees lineup struggled to solve Indians right-hander Justin Masterson, and New York dropped the first tilt of a twin bill, 1-0.

David Phelps submitted a strong effort to spare the Yankees’ shorthanded bullpen. The right-hander logged his second quality start in as many outings, limiting the Indians to one run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings. He threw a career-high 115 pitches, eclipsing his previous season high of 87. The righty surrendered a home run to Jason Kipnis — the second batter he faced — to account for the only scoring in the contest.

“Early on, I didn’t really have fastball command at all, and it showed,” Phelps said. “It was a battle out there. … They made me work.”

In an effort to keep his players as fresh as possible during a stretch of 17 games in 16 days, Girardi kept Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay out of the starting lineup, though each served as a pinch-hitter late in the game. Corban Joseph made his Major League debut at first base and drew a walk in his first career plate appearance.

Outside of loading the bases in the second inning, the Yankees never pieced together much of a scoring threat. No New York batter hit a ball out of the infield until Chris Stewart flied out to right field in the fifth.

“Our lineup has been scoring runs for us,” Phelps said. “It hasn’t been a problem for us. We have a great group of guys in there, guys that have done it and have had great careers and are still having great careers. They’re going to go out and battle, just like we [pitchers] are going to go out and battle. There are going to be games where they’re going to pick us up and games where we’re going to pick them up. We just ran into a guy who was really on his game, and you have to tip your cap to him.”….Read More  

Box Score and Highlights:

Game Three: Yanks 4 Royals 2

MLB.com Recap:

KANSAS CITY — Robinson Cano said that as he stands at home plate, the swirling winds and distant outfield gaps of Kauffman Stadium make it a challenging location to collect home runs.

Cano and Vernon Wells didn’t seem to have much trouble on Sunday, blasting back-to-back blasts to lead the Yankees to a 4-2 victory over the Royals, securing a series sweep and their fifth consecutive win.

“I just go to the plate with a [mindset] that I’m trying to go there and get a pitch that I can make good contact,” said Cano, who owns a team-leading 10 home runs. “This is a tough place to hit homers.”

Hiroki Kuroda pitched into the eighth inning to win for the third time in four starts, and Wells stroked three hits while homering in consecutive games as the Yankees improved to 10 games above .500 at 23-13.

It would be fair to say that the Yankees are pleased by the way they have exceeded expectations thus far, considering how many injuries they have absorbed, but Wells said that they also recognize there is plenty of time left on the clock this season.

“I think you like being in this situation, but at the same time, this game has a funny way of slapping you across the face at any point in time,” Wells said. “We’ll go out and have the same mentality — to continue to get great starting pitching and score enough runs to support those guys.”

Royals starter Ervin Santana permitted four runs in 6 1/3 innings. Using a pink Mother’s Day bat, Cano blasted a two-run shot over the right-field bullpen in the third inning, and Wells followed by clearing the left-field wall with his ninth home run.

Wells tacked on a fifth-inning RBI single to support Kuroda, who improved to 5-2 with a 2.31 ERA as he completed 7 2/3 innings of two-run ball.

The right-hander said that he didn’t have his best stuff because his slider and split-fingered fastball were not as effective as he would have liked.

“I don’t feel like I was particularly good today, but as always, [Chris] Stewart called a great game,” Kuroda said through an interpreter.

Alex Gordon connected for a first-inning sacrifice fly, and Alcides Escobar logged an eighth-inning RBI groundout against Kuroda, who scattered six hits while walking one and striking out one.

“I thought he was pretty good,” Stewart said. “He wasn’t spot on, but other than that, I thought he was pretty good. He was throwing his two-seamer really well in the zone, getting a lot of ground-ball outs, throwing his offspeed when he needed to.”…..Read More  

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Game Two: Yanks 3 Royals 2

MLB.com Recap:

KANSAS CITY — Upon further review, which consisted of scanning two starts worth of video footage and absorbing quite a few tongue-lashings from himself, Andy Pettitte has decided his cutter was actually not as bad as advertised.

The Royals certainly won’t disagree. Pettitte recaptured his important swing-and-miss pitch in a seven-strikeout performance, and Vernon Wells hit a key two-run homer as the Yankees won their fourth straight game, posting a 3-2 victory on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.

“I threw a lot of good cutters in the last few games, it’s just that I made a lot of mistakes with it,” Pettitte said. “I feel like I actually blew it way out of proportion, to tell you the truth. I had good angle on the ball today and I was glad I was able to give us a good start.”

Pettitte had allowed 11 runs (10 earned) over 9 1/3 innings in his previous two starts against the Astros and Athletics, but he limited Kansas City to a Lorenzo Cain RBI groundout and Billy Butler’s solo homer over seven innings of five-hit ball.

The Royals were, as usual, the right opponent for Pettitte to snap a three-start winless skid. He improved to 15-3 lifetime against the Royals and is undefeated against Kansas City dating back to a win on Sept. 4, 2000, a span of 14 starts.

“I really don’t believe he’s forgotten how to pitch, forgotten how to throw a cutter or locate a fastball, any of that,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “I always say, when you’re old or overweight — and you don’t want to be both — and you’re struggling, people are ready to say, ‘Is there something wrong?’ No, it’s baseball. Everybody struggles.”

David Robertson struck out three batters in a scoreless eighth inning to set up Mariano Rivera for his 14th save in as many opportunities.

Salvador Perez reached Rivera for a two-out double and Mike Moustakas made a bid to tie the game with a deep drive to left-center field, but the wind held the ball up long enough for Wells to run it down — right in the general area of Kauffman Stadium where Rivera’s season ended last May.

“I had a feeling,” Wells said. “Sometimes you’re in the outfield and reading things that go on, and he took some good swings. I knew that the only place he’d most likely be hitting that ball was in the gap. I kind of shaded that way a little bit. I was in the right place.”

It marked the 70th victory that Rivera has saved for Pettitte, further extending the all-time Major League record for win-save combinations between any two pitchers. Yankees relievers haven’t allowed a run in their last 14 1/3 innings.

“We’re letting Mo get into the game in each city that we go to. So far, so good,” Wells said.

Pettitte said that he felt some relief in chalking up the victory, which he said came on “a trying day for me,” since Pettitte believed that Elliot Johnson fouled a third-inning ball off his foot that was ruled an infield single before coming around to score…..Read More

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Game One: Yanks 11 Royals 6

MLB.com Recap:

KANSAS CITY — When Lyle Overbay first walked into the Yankees’ clubhouse, he knew the desperation was thick for a temporary fix at first base. That was just fine to him, since he might have been 72 hours away from spending a summer on his living room couch.

Overbay may have been a last-minute addition slapped onto the Yankees’ roster, but he has proven to be an invaluable pickup. The veteran hit a two-run homer, had four hits and drove in five runs as the Yankees outslugged the Royals, 11-6, on Friday at Kauffman Stadium.

“It’s been a fun ride. I’m just enjoying it,” Overbay said. “Three days before that, I was going to be going home. I didn’t want to try to do too much and put pressure on myself. I just wanted to kind of enjoy it.”

Overbay was released by the Red Sox late this spring before latching on with the Yankees. He said that working with hitting coach Kevin Long has helped his approach at the plate, which included his sixth homer of the season on Friday; a good jump after Overbay hit just two homers all of last season.

The bottom of New York’s lineup was responsible for most of the heavy lifting as the Yankees pounded out 16 hits against Kansas City pitching. Ichiro Suzuki also slugged a two-run homer among three hits as the Yanks collected five doubles and a triple, lifting Joe Girardi to his 500th win as Yankees manager.

“I’ve been blessed to have this opportunity,” said Girardi, who thanked the late George M. Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman. “As a child, you dream about playing in the big leagues. I don’t know if you dream about managing, but as I got older, it was something I really wanted to do. I got a great opportunity.”…Read More 

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Game Three: Yanks 3 Rockies 1

MLB.com Recap:

DENVER — CC Sabathia was sailing along and had retired 11 straight Rockies batters through the fourth inning when the rain came Thursday.

Forced to go to his bullpen early because of a one-hour, 59-minute rain delay, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was able to call on Mariano Rivera in the ninth to nail down a 3-1 win over the Rockies in the rubber game of their low-scoring series, but not before a succession of huge efforts from Adam Warren, who won his first Major League decision, Boone Logan, Preston Claiborne and David Robertson to finish the seventh and pitch the eighth, the inning he typically works.

“Just a great job starting with Adam Warren,” Girardi said. “Everyone contributing, some guys give us multiple outs, Boonie gave us one big out. They made some big pitches when they had to when [the Rockies] had a chance to tie the game, so I give them a lot of credit.”

With so many frontline players on the disabled list, run production has become very iffy for the Yankees. Once again, their pitching sustained them as they finished a series at Coors Field, where the Yankees outscored the Rockies 6-5. The Yankees went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the series. By no means great, but it was good enough, considering the Rockies went 1-for-12, including five hitless at-bats in such situations Thursday.

“We just did a lot of little things right,” Girardi said. “When we had opportunities to score, we did. There weren’t a lot of runs scored in Colorado. I can’t imagine people would have predicted that here. Three days here, and we won two close games.”

The Yankees are 13-4 in games decided by one or two runs. Vernon Wells singled home a run in the first. Chris Stewart hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth. And Robinson Cano, whose infield single in the third was the 1,500th hit of his career, homered in the fifth off Adam Ottavino, the only hit he allowed in three innings. It was Cano’s s ninth homer and the first earned run Ottavino allowed in eight games, dating back to April 9.

Cano had gone 0-for-8 in the first two games in the series and said he “was chasing everything and swinging at everything.” He spent time in the batting cage with hitting coach Kevin Long and worked to “let the ball get deeper and hit my pitch.”

Cano said reaching 1,500 hits “means a lot. It’s one of the dreams come true. When you get to the big leagues, you want to be successful.”…..Read More 

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Game Two: Yanks 3 Rockies 2

MLB.com Recap:

DENVER — During a rally in the ninth that led to a 3-2 victory over the Rockies on Wednesday night, Yankees manager Joe Girardi pinch-hit for his third baseman and his pitcher. And because shortstop Eduardo Nunez is unavailable due to a rib-cage strain, Girardi had to make an unusual move.

“I don’t have an extra infielder, really, because of the situation with Nuney,” Girardi said. “My extra infielders are outfielders and catchers.”

So left fielder Vernon Wells ended up playing third base in the bottom of the ninth and not just for the first time in his Major League career but for the first time in his life. Wells said once Travis Hafner, the first pinch-hitter Girardi used, batted for third baseman Chris Nelson, “I knew I was going to end up playing third.”

Wells fielded a grounder for the second out of the ninth as closer Mariano Rivera made his Coors Field debut and earned his 12th save in as many chances this season.

Girardi said he had seen Wells take ground balls earlier this season before a game when he wasn’t in the lineup and liked what he saw.

“He was going there last night if a spot came up,” Girardi said. “And I told him today that you were going to go to third last night so be prepared, because it could happen with the way our roster’s constructed right now.”

Wells was unable to take ground balls before Wednesday’s game, because a heavy rain kept both teams from taking batting practice.

Having deployed Wells at third base successfully doesn’t mean Girardi is contemplating doing it again.

“It’s not something I want to do on a regular basis,” Girardi said. “You do it when you have a chance to win a game. And that’s what I thought tonight.”

Wells hit a two-run homer in the first off Juan Nicasio, but the Rockies got those runs back quickly when Todd Helton hit a two-run homer in the second off David Phelps, who gave up three hits in six innings……Read More

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MLB.com Recap:

DENVER — Yankees manager Joe Girardi played for the Rockies in 1995, the year Coors Field opened. Before Tuesday night’s 2-0 loss, he recalled an abundance of 11-10 games that have become far less frequent since a humidor was installed in 2002.

Girardi cited the Rockies’ 3.86 ERA at home entering Tuesday — virtually identical to their 3.88 road ERA — as proof that Coors Field now plays differently. Hours later, Girardi had hard proof as the Rockies took the series opener.

The humidor notwithstanding, a taut pitchers’ duel is still a rarity here. But Hiroki Kuroda and Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa matched zeros in a steady rain that was hard at times until Carlos Gonzalez hit a two-run homer in the sixth.

Kuroda, who worked seven innings, had allowed two homers in 36 innings through his first six starts of the season. He yielded two hits and had retired nine straight batters before Josh Rutledge singled with two outs in the sixth. Gonzalez followed with his seventh home run, driving Kuroda’s 3-2 fastball into the Rockies’ bullpen in right-center. Michael Cuddyer and Todd Helton followed with singles, but Nolan Arenado lined out to right to end the inning.

The Yankees had gone 8-3 against left-handed starters this season and were tied with the Braves for the best record in the Majors against southpaws this season.

This was Kuroda’s 11th career start against the Rockies but his first while with the Yankees. He had allowed at least one run in the first inning in three of his previous six starts this season but sailed through the first, aided by catcher Chris Stewart. After Rutledge singled with one out, Stewart picked him off……Read More

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MLB.com Recap:

NEW YORK — Though Andy Pettitte admits he is searching, Joe Girardi is refusing to find reason for alarm.

“I think two starts is way too little a number of starts to make a big deal out of it,” said the Yankees’ manager. “If it goes on for a month, then obviously there is some concern.

“If he was 26 or 32, we don’t even ask the question. Because [he's 40], we ask the question.”

Just three starts ago, against Tampa Bay, Pettitte, a 248-game winner, says he had the best cutter he could remember in years. After giving up 11 runs in his last two outings, including four in five innings in Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the A’s, he wants to know where his bread-and-butter pitch has gone.

“It’s going sideways,” Pettitte said. “Last time [9-1 Yankees loss to Houston], it was backing up. I love the battle, I would just like to have a little bit of an idea where the ball is going.

“Everything has been great in my [bullpen sessions]. But something is going on in the games. I can feel my release point floating around. You just know from the feel of your fingers, the ball is just not coming off right. It has been a long line time since I haven’t had a feel for my pitches.”

Two fastballs over the plate — to Luke Montz in the third and Yoenis Cespedes in the fifth — were crushed for home runs to left field on Sunday, putting the Yankees in a 4-1 hole in the fifth inning.

“The one to Cespedes, I think it was a pretty good pitch, but when you can’t get the cutter in, they can hang over the plate for the fastball,” said Pettitte.

The Yankees got Pettitte off the hook in the sixth, when Ichiro Suzuki’s double chased home Vernon Wells, and Lyle Overbay dropped a single in front of Cespedes to score Travis Hafner and Suzuki. Preston Claiborne pitched two scoreless innings in his first Major League appearance to turn the game over to Boone Logan in the eighth with the game even.

That lasted one batter, until Josh Donaldson crushed a 1-1 fastball from Logan into the mezzanine to put Oakland back in front before the A’s bullpen buckled down to survive Yankees threats in the final two innings.

In the eighth, with runners on first and second and one out, Ryan Cook struck out Jayson Nix and got Overbay to fly to just short of the right-center-field warning track. In the ninth, Brett Gardner singled with two outs and went to second on Grant Balfour’s wild pitch to Robinson Cano before the A’s decided to walk Cano, putting the winning run on base.

“I hated having to do it,” said Balfour of issuing the walk. “I get two outs and a guy gets a single on a broken bat and, all of a sudden, there’s a ball in the dirt and a base open.

“You got a guy that swings the bat pretty good and you got to put him on. You want to face everyone. You want to get everyone out.”

Balfour settled for the last guy instead, blowing a 2-2 fastball past Wells to end the drama.

“Those are the moments you love to be in,” said Wells. “Everything was set up for another memorable Yankee Stadium moment, and I didn’t come through that time.

“He won that battle. I’m sure there will be plenty more.”….Read More

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NEW YORK — There was a deep exhale at the back of the pitcher’s mound as Ichiro Suzuki’s back hit the padding of the right-field wall in the first inning, taking away what could have been a leadoff home run for the Athletics’ John Jaso.

Yankee Stadium has not been the most friendly place for Phil Hughes to pitch over the course of his career, but you couldn’t tell for the rest of the day on Saturday. Hughes was excellent, spinning eight scoreless innings to lead the Yankees to a 4-2 win in the Bronx.

“I feel like I’m kind of clicking right now with what I’m trying to do,” Hughes said. “I feel like I’m executing pitches at a better rate than I did early on. As long as I can hit the glove and stay there, and maintain my velocity and strength late in the game, then I feel like I’ll be pretty good.”

Hughes picked up his first victory of the season as he turned in his fourth straight solid outing, receiving a boost as Chris Stewart and Lyle Overbay homered to power the Yankees to their seventh win in nine games.

“It’s always nice to give him some support,” Overbay said. “It’s good to see that he didn’t change his way of pitching when we were down those last couple of days. He kept grinding and hoping we’d get him some runs.”

After Jaso’s deep fly ball to the warning track in the first inning, the Athletics managed just four hits off Hughes, who walked two and struck out nine for the second consecutive start while retiring the final 10 batters he faced.

“When I’m getting ahead of guys, it makes it a lot easier to do what I want to do during the course of the at-bat,” said Hughes, who has a 1.93 ERA over his last four starts. “I was aggressive with my fastball again, I was able to get ahead and, for the most part, did what I wanted to do.”

Hughes said that he has built up more arm strength after a bulging disk in his upper back kept him from making any official starts with the big league club this spring. The A’s said that Hughes seemed to throw more fastballs than they expected.

“He threw strike one,” Oakland’s Josh Donaldson said. “He was ahead of everybody and works really fast. It’s tough to get settled in on him, just because he was going so fast the entire time. He located his heater all day, pretty much, and the couple times he missed over the plate, we didn’t make him pay for it.”…..Read More

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