As satisfying as it had to be for the Yankees to finally break out of their offensive slump with a 10-run seventh inning Tuesday against the Tigers, the most notable and encouraging development in the 11-0 win occurred during the first six innings, when 22-year-old pitcher Phil Hughes made his season debut and performed like someone ready to match or exceed the hype surrounding him.
Hughes, long viewed as the Yankees' top pitching prospect, allowed just two hits and two walks and tied a career high with six strikeouts over six innings. He earned the win when the Yankees exploded in the seventh to snap their four-game losing streak. "I don't think you can do any better," manager Joe Girardi said.
Such an outing was badly needed for Hughes as well as the entire organization. Hughes began his big-league career in such impressive fashion in 2007 -- he tossed 6 1/3 no-hit innings in his second start and was the winning pitcher in the Yankees' lone playoff victory that October -- that general manager Brian Cashman refused to trade him to the Twins for Johan Santana, who ended up getting dealt to the cross-town Mets.
But while Santana had a brilliant 2008 season in Queens, Hughes endured an injury-plagued campaign in which he went 0-4 with a 6.62 ERA in eight starts. The Yankees responded by investing more than $250 million in CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett and assigning Hughes to Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he got off to a brilliant start (3-0 in three starts with a 1.86 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings) to earn the promotion following Chien-Ming Wang's trip to the disabled list.
The Yankees, meanwhile, have been criticized for their free-spending ways and for failing to develop their own top-flight players, a la the division-rival Red Sox or Rays. Their pitching staff entered Tuesday with the worst ERA in the major leagues (6.18), but they moved up to 28th after lowering the mark to 5.87 with the shutout.
YANKEES 11, TIGERS 0: The Yankees snapped their offensive slump in a huge way with a 10-run seventh inning, and they ended a four-game losing streak by blanking the Tigers in Detroit. The Yankees had scored just three runs in 24 innings dating back to their 16-11 loss to the Red Sox on Saturday before they sent 14 batters to the plate in the seventh against a trio of Tigers pitchers. Jose Molina capped the outburst with a grand slam. Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera all had two hits for the Yankees.
