The LoHud Yankees Blog

The Yankees play a lot of close games, and when that’s the case, nights like this are bound to happen. The bullpen has been terrific, and Vidal Nuno looks promising, but some point a reliever is bound to give up a home run. That’s what Nuno did in the 10th inning, and in the short term, that’s what matters.

Bigger picture, though, Phil Hughes was far more interesting.

“I just tried to execute as many pitches as I could early on,” Hughes said. “I had to battle the first hitter I faced, and he ended up getting a base hit out of it. I was encouraged I was able to get the next three guys and get that last start out of my head a little bit. I was able to get a little rhythm going. It was good to get into that sixth with that high pitch count and have a good inning there as well.”

Hughes was good tonight. He wasn’t great — “I could’ve been better,” he admitted — but two runs through six innings is good enough. Sure, you’d like to see him pitch deeper, and home runs are obvious mistakes, but Hughes gave the Yankees a real chance to win tonight. And he did it coming off the worst start of his career.

“I’m encouraged,” Joe Girardi said. “Hughesy’s run some pretty good streaks for us together. He hit a little rough spot. He’s come out of them before, so there was nothing that led me to believe he wouldn’t come out of it again.”

Hughes is a fastball pitcher, Chris Dickerson is a good fastball hitter, and Hughes got into situations where he needed to throw fastballs to Dickerson. That’s a bad combination, and Dickerson capitalized. After the second homer, Hughes fell behind 2-0 against the next hitter, at which point Larry Rothschild went the mound.

“Just to take a breather,” Hughes said. “Sometimes I have tendency of some bad habits. I start overthrowing a little bit, and I wanted to back off a little bit and collect myself.”

Hughes wound up walking that hitter, but only after his next five pitches after the mound meeting were fouled off. He pitched around an error that inning and retired the last five hitters he faced, three of them on strikeouts. He wasn’t perfect, but he was good enough to forget about last week.

“To be honest with you, nothing about that last start really crept into my mind at all,” he said. “It was just about trying to get that next guy and execute that next pitch.”

• Nuno on the home run pitch to Nate McLouth: “Just trying to get the first pitch over, trying to locate, and when I missed with the cutter in, I had gone with the fastball away. Got it, and then tried to do it again. Got the game plan, but it just (didn’t execute). … It was supposed to be a cutter away, and it was just a little bit off, and he took advantage of it.”

• Obviously not an easy situation for Nuno, who hadn’t pitched since his spot start last Monday in Cleveland. “We’ve tried to keep him going with sides and everything that he’s done,” Girardi said. “Just thought, with all the lefties that they had coming up, that he could give us some distance but unfortunately he gave up a home run.”

• Girardi said he never really considered having either Dave Robertson or Preston Claiborne pitch more than one inning. He liked the left-on-left matchup, and didn’t want to use his short relievers any more than he had to. “I can’t wear them out,” Girardi said.

• Speaking of Claiborne, he continues to impress. Tonight he entered a tied game in the ninth and delivered a scoreless inning, including a strikeout to end the inning after an infield single. “He’s been really good for us,” Girardi said. “The kid’s grown up in front of our eyes. He’s been in some tough situations and he’s seemed to respond.”

• Hughes on the two home run pitches: “He’s a good fastball hitter. Really, I got into situations where I had to throw my fastball. (First one was) 3-2, outer third I thought. He was just looking for a heater and put a good swing on it. The other one I felt like I was trying to go up at the belt and in. It was just down where a lefty wants it. It was two pitches that were out over the plate a little bit. Obviously he did what he was trying to do.”

• Hughes seemed particularly upset by the second Dickerson home run. “I’m annoyed after every homer,” Hughes said. “It’s tough. I felt like I made a good pitch inside to him there — really didn’t set myself up to attack him the way I wanted to, with offspeed stuff. I was falling behind and was forced to give in a little bit.”

• Obviously the Yankees know all about Dickerson, who was playing center field only because Adam Jones has a sore leg. “He’s a strong kid,” Girardi said. “He’s very athletic. He’s a good player. We’ve had him up a couple of times and he’s done some good things for us. And he helped them tonight.”

• Two more RBI for Travis Hafner, who also drove in a couple of runs yesterday. He’s 4-for-9 the past two games.

• The Yankees have not had much success in the past against Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez. “He’s got a good mixture of pitches,” Girardi said. “I think he knows how to move his fastball in and out. His split’s a nice chase pitch. I thought we swung the bats maybe better tonight against him than we have, we just hit some balls at people.”

• This was the first time the Yankees lost a game when scoring first this season. They were the last MLB club to have not lost a game when scoring first. According to Elias, the Yankees 18-0 start when scoring first was the longest such stretch all-time for an American League team.

• Final word goes to Hughes: “For the most part I thought my stuff was pretty good and gave us a chance to win the game so obviously it was a lot better than last time. It’s progress, so I’ll build off this one. … I could’ve been better. Two mistakes. I felt a little out of rhythm out of the windup and I’m trying to work on that in my next bullpen session. Overall it was decent. Hopefully I can take steps forward from this one. ”

P.S. – Don’t forget we’re doing a chat on Wednesday at noon. Stop by if you can.

Associated Press photos

Vidal Nuno finally allowed a run, and it came in the cruelest of circumstances. With the game tied in the 10th, the Yankees rookie reliever coughed up a walk-off home run to Nate McLouth, giving the Orioles a stunning 3-2 win at Camden Yards. It was the first run Nuno had allowed after nine scoreless innings. Yankees starter Phil Hughes rebounded from his previous debacle to give the Yankees six solid innings, allowing two runs and striking out five. One night after his dramatic, game-tying home run, Travis Hafner provided the Yankees’ early offense with a pair of RBI singles. He drove in Brett Gardner (who had doubled in the first inning), and Vernon Wells (who had doubled in the fourth), but the Orioles kept pace because of former Yankees outfielder Chris Dickerson. With Adam Jones bothered by a sore right leg, Dickerson got a rare start in center field for the Orioles. He entered the game with one home run this season, then took Hughes deep twice. His first solo shot tied the game at 1 in the third inning, and his second tied the game at 2 in the fifth.

Associated Press photo

YANKEES (28-16)
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Curtis Granderson RF
David Adams 3B
Jayson Nix SS
Austin Romine C

RHP Phil Hughes (2-3, 5.88)
Hughes vs. Orioles

ORIOLES (23-21)
Nate McLouth LF
Manny Machado 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Adam Jones DH
Chris Davis 1B
Matt Wieters C
JJ Hardy SS
Chris Dickerson CF
Yamaico Navarro 2B

RHP Miguel Gonzalez (2-2, 4.58)
Gonzalez vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., MY9 and MLB Network

WEATHER: Temperatures in the 80s, with a very slight chance of rain at some point.

UMPIRES: HP Eric Cooper, 1B Paul Schrieber, 2B Chad Fairchild, 3B Jeff Kellogg

DAVID GOES DEEP: David Adams, who attended nearby University of Virginia, hit his first career home run last night. It came in his fifth career game, making him just the third Yankee in the last 98 years (since 1916) to homer as a third basemen within his first five career games: also Andy Phillips (2004) and Mike Pagliarulo (1984).

THE PEN IS MIGHTIER: The Yankees bullpen has combined to post a 1.66 ERA (54.1IP, 10ER) and hold opponents to a .197 (38-for-193) average with 13BB and 55K in May. The relievers have a 26.2-inning scoreless stretch over their last 10 road games. It is their longest road scoreless stretch since a 29.1-inning span in 2002.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Last night, the Yankees recorded their first win of the season when trailing after the end of the eighth inning. They recorded just one win under those circumstances all of last year (1-58), coming in the second-to-last game of the year vs. Boston.

UPDATE, 7:13 p.m.: Brett Gardner leads off with a double just out of the reach of McLouth, and the Yankees turned it into a run with a two-out single by Hafner.

UPDATE, 7:50 p.m.: Chris Dickerson, getting a rare start in center field for the Orioles, just took Hughes deep to center field to tie the game at 1 here in the third.

UPDATE, 8:07 p.m.: It’s that Hafner fellow again. Another RBI single, and the Yankees are back in front, 2-1.

UPDATE, 8:14 p.m.: Through four innings, Hughes has allowed one run on the Dickerson homer. Otherwise, he’s been pretty solid. In typical form, he’s allowed a lot of balls in the air, but he’s pitched out of one jam and has walked just one. It’s still 2-1.

UPDATE, 8:25 p.m.: This is a dangerous Orioles lineup, but Chris Dickerson isn’t supposed to be the one who makes it dangerous. Dickerson just took Hughes deep again to tie the game in the fifth. It’s Dickerson’s third home run of the season, two of which have come in this game.

UPDATE, 8:33 p.m.: Really nice play by Cano to start what should have been a double play. Instead, Nix botch the play trying to be too quick at the bag and the Orioles have runners at first and second with one out in here in the fifth.

UPDATE, 8:54 p.m.: Six innings, two runs for Hughes. He just pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, including strikeouts against Davis and Wieters. The two homers have cost him, but obviously this is a significant improvement over last time out. He’s giving the Yankees a chance to win, but as is often the case this season, the offense is still waiting to break out and seize control.

UPDATE, 9:09 p.m.: Very close play, but looks like the right call at first base. Navarro has an infield single in the seventh. Now Boone Logan has to face the top of the order with one out and the game tied.

UPDATE, 9:34 p.m.: My goodness, Dave Robertson really is awfully good.

UPDATE, 9:52 p.m.: Claiborne strikes out Navarro to end the ninth. He now has nine scoreless innings to begin his career. Meanwhile, the Orioles have brought in closer Jim Johnson who’s been awful lately. Vidal Nuno is warming for the Yankees.

Dave Robertson has never played baseball in Oklahoma City, and he has no real ties to the suburb of Moore, but images of yesterday’s tornado still struck home. The scenes on television all too similar to the 2011 tornado that ripped through Robertson’s hometown of Tuscaloosa, Ala.

“I know first hand what it looks like,” Robertson said. “We saw it live going through there. It’s tough because you know that all the families are just lost right now. Their whole world has been rocked. It’s just really tough to see that. You watch it on TV but you don’t understand until you get on the ground and see where everyone’s houses were, it’s just a lot of concrete debris. It’s tough to see.”

When the Alabama tornado hit, Robertson and his wife, Erin, formed the High Socks For Hope charity. He’s already talked to Erin about ideas for new fund raising events to begin helping in Oklahoma.

“We’re preparing care packages right now to send up,” Robertson said. “We’re doing everything within our means. We’re not a large charity, it’s just me, Erin and a couple of people on the ground in Alabama. It’s really actually just three of us running it. We’re small but we’re doing what we can. We get a lot of help down there and hopefully we can move some essential items back up to Oklahoma and help out any way we can.”

“… We’re still doing Alabama, Sandy and hoping to send some stuff up to Oklahoma. Right now, it’s just care packages. We’ll see where everything goes from there. Our funds are kind of depleted. We need to bring awareness back.”

• Joba Chamberlain is scheduled to make a rehab appearance in Tampa tomorrow, but he won’t be activated right away. Manager Joe Girardi said he expects Chamberlain to make at least two rehab outings, making it unlikely he’ll come off the disabled list before next week. “I don’t know if it will be the weekend,” Girardi said. “I think he’ll probably do two turns, then we’ll evaluate and make sure he’s doing OK.”

• Mark Teixeira got four simulated at-bats today, and Kevin Youkilis got three at-bats. Eduardo Nunez did tee and toss, and Alex Rodriguez took batting practice. “Everyone seemed to do a little more today,” Girardi said.

• It’s important to think of these simulated game at-bats as something larger than typical at-bats. “They told me Tex saw 40 to 45 pitches in four ABs,” Girardi said. “I don’t imagine that’s (a real game). I don’t know how you do that.”

• According to Girardi, Ivan Nova felt good today, but there’s no word on what’s next for him.

• No real plan for Andy Pettitte just yet. “They’re giving him five or six days off from throwing,” Girardi said. “He’s not scheduled to throw yet.” Girardi indicated that Pettitte might simply throw a simulated game rather than going on a real rehab assignment.

• Chris Stewart did more tee and toss today. Girardi said he fully expects to have Stewart back in the lineup at some point this weekend.

• The Yankees could used Stewart in an emergency, but if — for some reason — the Yankees couldn’t use Stewart, Jayson Nix is the emergency third catcher. “Ich is the most flexible,” Girardi said. “He ought to get back there. He said no, though.”

• Girardi said it’s ultimately up to Phil Hughes to recognize whether his fastball is working tonight, and to adjust his game plan if it’s not. Austin Romine can call pitches, but Hughes has the final say. “You can try to enforce it, but really the enforcer is standing with the baseball in his hand because they have the ability to shake,” Girardi said. “Unfortunately, catchers aren’t able to shake pitchers off sometimes. It really falls upon his shoulders. You can try to get him to do it, but sometimes guy are creatures of habit and you have to recognize when you have to make changes.”

Associated Press photos

Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells RF
Travis Hafner DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Curtis Granderson LF
David Adams 3B
Jayson Nix SS
Austin Romine C

RHP Phil Hughes

A short night at the stadium can lead to some long nights at home, and Phil Hughes knew he wasn’t heading for sweet dreams on Wednesday night. Not after a nightmare of a start.

“You lay in bed and you think about things,” he said. “What could have gone differently for you, and what you could have done better. It’s tough. It’s tough any way you slice it.”

Doubt anyone needs to be reminded of the details, so here are the basics: Hughes got two outs, allowed seven runs and saw his season ERA jump by nearly a run and a half on Wednesday. Tonight will be his first start since the debacle, an opportunity for — as he put it — “officially putting that one out of my memory bank.” Of course, forgetting about that one will require a significant step forward, which will require some sort of correction.

“I felt like I was maybe on the side of the ball a little bit, which tends (to cause) my fastball to come back over the middle of the plate,” Hughes said. “My bullpen, I tried to focus on staying behind the baseball and continue to stay aggressive. It wasn’t any drastic changes or anything.”

Fact is, Wednesday was an extreme example of what’s made Hughes such an up-and-down pitcher, especially this season. He’s made eight starts this year. In his first two and his last two — the four starts when he struggled — he’s had a combined ERA of 14.17 with seven strikeouts. In his middle four starts, he’s had a combined ERA of 1.93 with 30 strikeouts. He’s been terrific for half the season (punctuated by eight scoreless innings on May 4), and he’s been awful for half of the season (punctuated by Wednesday’s embarrassment).

“It’s all fastball command, really,” Hughes said. “The days that I’ve had good command of my fastball, I’ve been able to work everything off that. Those have been the good ones. The bad ones, I’m falling behind and trying to figure something out. When the fastball is there and I’m locating it, I have a good chance to be good that day. If not, I think I need to do a better job of recognizing that earlier and throwing more off-speed pitches to try to counter-balance that.”

Locating the fastball requires control, beginning with Hughes’ emotions. He said he has a tendency to get on the side of the ball when he overthrows. Larry Rothschild told Hughes that overthrowing was the problem on Wednesday.

“Larry said it reminded him of last year when I threw in Anaheim (5.1 innings, 7 earned),” Hughes said. “Sometimes you just get too much adrenaline going and tend to overthrow the baseball. For me, when I do that, I get on the side and rush out a little bit. It’s something I need to recognize when I’m doing that and try to do a better job of handling my emotions, especially in the first inning, which is tough sometimes. I think that’s when you’re amped up the most. Once I get rolling a little bit, it becomes easier.”

Associated Press photo

About CC Sabathia’s latest start…

Joe Girardi: “He got some balls up. He left some sliders up tonight and they were home runs and doubles, but he battled. I thought he battled all night and gave us a chance to win the game. … It happens. That’s the bottom line; it happens. Maybe he got a little tired; I don’t think so, but he left some sliders up, left a changeup up to Hardy. He made some mistakes in that seventh inning.”

Austin Romine: “I would say it was probably the slider. It was on and off. He made some good pitches with it early, and it kind of went up and down from there. Some of the balls hit hard were sliders up. But like I said, he battled. We get that dink hit over first. (If) it doesn’t happen, then he’s still in the game. It’s just unfortunate. Sometimes they get those dink hits, but it’s still part of the game.”

CC Sabathia: “I think later in the game I was up with everything. Early in the game, I felt like I had good command, I just couldn’t put guys away. … I threw a lot of fastballs in. They were ready, though. When I did make a mistake, they did a good job of barreling it up, hitting doubles. They did a good job of barreling some balls.”

—

By the way, we’re going to do a chat tomorrow at noon. Stop by if you can!

The Orioles have one of the better closers in baseball, but last night they watched Jim Johnson blow a third consecutive save opportunity. Through most of baseball, it’s hard for a manager to walk to that mound, call in a reliever and feel absolute trust. But it must be hard for Joe Girardi to feel anything less these days.

In the month of May, the Yankees bullpen has pitched to a 1.66 ERA (10 earned runs, 54.1 innings). The relievers walked 13 and struck out 55. In the past 10 road games, they have a streak of 26.2 scoreless innings.

“It’s pretty basic for them to come in and make pitches and get people out,” Austin Romine said. “Right now, these guys are working real hard. They’re making pitches when they need to make pitches. We’re pitching smart, and good things are happening when you put the ball in the glove.”

If ever there were a time to appreciate Mariano Rivera, it’s surely after watching Johnson struggle, then watching Rivera pick up his 17th consecutive save. He continues to be that steady force in the ninth, a goal for every pitcher ahead of him just working to get the ball in his hands.

“It’s not normal what he does,” Vernon Wells said. “We’re just glad to have him on this team. We’ll continue giving him opportunities, he’ll continue slamming the door and we’ll shake hands after the game.”

Rivera said he feels strong. Despite the age, despite the workload, he feels sharp. And it shows. It’s hard to doubt him when he’s getting results like this.

And the rest of the bullpen seems to be falling in line ahead of him.

“I feel the same with my teammates; I feel the same with my manager,” Rivera said. “You have to feed off that, the confidence with anybody. He puts anybody there. Everybody has been doing the job and hopefully we’ll continue doing it. It makes the team feel great. … Everybody is pitching. That’s what it is. It’s not only about one player, it’s about 25 players and a bunch of guys in the bullpen that we have. Everybody is doing their job. It’s a nice thing and I enjoy every bit of it.”

Associated Press photo

One way or another, the Yankees keep winning baseball games. Early in the season, the lineup’s surprising power stole the show. For a while, the rotation seemed to be carrying the most significant load. Lately, it’s been the bullpen that’s provided the stability. Through injuries and call-ups and minor trades, this team has defied expectations in every which way, and surely there’s some satisfaction in that.

“I don’t know if anybody cares,” Travis Hafner said. “We just want to win. I don’t think anybody cares what people think. (There are) a lot of guys just coming together that just want to win ballgames and get to the playoffs and go from there.”

One thing that’s noticeable in the absence of some familiar veterans is that the Yankees clubhouse hasn’t changed all that much. It’s still a generally friendly place, relatively soft spoken and business-like. Veterans have filled the leadership role, and young players have been developed to fall into place.

The Yankees might be defying your expectations, and they might be defying my expectations, but there’s a sense that none of that matters in that room. It was never about your expectations or my expectations.

“What I’m seeing is guys are coming through,” Joe Girardi said. “Guys are getting the job done. There’s no quit. They come to the ballpark excited to play every day, and they’re finding ways to win games. Sometimes when you look at our stats, we’re not at the top of anything. But these guys have just done a really good job.”

Tonight’s was a game of expectations being destroyed. The Yankees haven’t blown a lot of leads this season, but they blew two of them tonight — with CC Sabathia on the mound, no less — yet they found a way to win by coming back against Jim Johnson and the Orioles bullpen, which fully asserted itself last year.

Four home runs in the first nine innings, culminating in Hafner’s tying shot in the ninth. Then the Yankees played small ball in the 10th, taking the lead on doubles by Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells. Mariano Rivera, of course, did what he’s done 17 times already this season.

The Yankees didn’t make it easy on themselves, and at times they didn’t make it look pretty, but if you expected them to lose, they proved you wrong once again.

“We definitely keep you guys on your toes, that’s for sure,” Wells said. “We haven’t gone out and slaughtered too many teams. We need to go out and score a few more runs, let the back end of our bullpen relax a little bit. We’ve kept them taxed for pretty much every day of the season. We need to hopefully do a better job. It will come, we just have to continue to be consistent and win these close ones. We’re starting to get pieces of the puzzle back here slowly but surely, so things will work out.”

They have so far.

• Of course, this was supposed to be a day of rest for Wells. He would up driving in the winning run. “Nice and refreshed,” he said. “… The way the game was shaping up, close ballgame, any time any of us have an off day we want to be ready in case something happens. Joe asked me if I was ready in the eighth and I said, ‘Sure.’ He said, ‘Go play.’ Obviously the most important one came in my second at-bat. It was good to get in that situation. Early on in the at-bat I was trying to get him over, but he’s got good stuff. I got to two strikes and it was just a matter of trying to put the bat on the ball.”

• With his 10th inning double — the one that ultimately led to the go-ahead run — Ichiro now has a 20-game hitting streak at Camden Yards. He has the third-highest batting average (.353) among active players against the Orioles.

• Of course, that 10th inning also included Hafner’s second hit of the night, an RBI single. His first hit had been the game-tying homer in the ninth. “You’re just kind of looking for a pitch to drive, something up,” Hafner said. “He made a pretty good pitch there, and I put a good swing on it and hit it out the other way. I was pretty pumped about that.”

• Jim Johnson has now blown three straight save opportunities. Before this slide, he had a club-record 35 straight regular-season saves.

• Lyle Overbay’s home run off Troy Patton was his first homer off a lefty since May 28, 2011. That’s nearly two years! “I know he throws a fastball, slider,” Overbay said. “It’s just a matter of getting a pitch up in the zone and taking it from there. I swung at a bad one earlier in the count – kind of go too aggressive – and obviously he hung that pitch, and I was able to put a good swing on it.”

• Robinson Cano’s home run made him the first American League hitter to reach 13 home runs this season. An inning later, Chris Davis also hit his 13th.

• Big night for David Adams, who went 2-for-4 with his first big league homer. “It was something special,” Adams said. “After that we took a early 2-0 lead, so I was pretty happy. And then, when they took the lead, I was like, oh man, this isn’t what it’s all supposed to be. I was like, man, now I’m going to be upset after the game. And then freaking Hafner came up with that clutch hit so it’s like, OK, now I can smile again. It’s something special to be a part of.”

• The Yankees security team actually tracked down the person who caught Adams’ home run ball and was able to get it for Adams. “If I saw (the security guys) coming at me, (I’d say), ‘Here, whatever you want,’” Adams said. As you can imagine, the Yankees security guys are big boys. Very, very nice guys, but plenty intimidating.

• Rivera tied Hoyt Willhelm for fifth place on baseball’s all-time games pitched list. … Dave Robertson tied Fritz Peterson for 19th on the Yankees all-time games pitched list. … Shawn Kelley struck out three more guys as the bullpen continues to come up big for the Yankees.

• Austin Romine was knocked in the head by a Steve Pearce backswing in the fifth. The Yankees medical staff came out to check on him, but Romine said he was fine. “They came out and asked me questions I don’t even know the answers to, even if I wasn’t concussed,” Romine said. “I was laughing. They asked me where we were, and I said, I don’t even know what day of the week it is, come on. He knew I was joking around. If I was in a daze, I wouldn’t have been able to joke around.”

• It’s easy to overlook it now, but CC Sabathia allowed 11 hits tonight. He didn’t walk anyone, and he did a nice job limiting the damage until the seventh, but it nearly cost the Yankees. “Just not being able to make pitches, leaving some balls up,” Sabathia said. “And I’ve just got to do a better job with two strikes of making pitches and getting outs. We took the lead right there, and it’s just up to me to shut the door.”

• We’ll give the final word to Wells: “Those are fun ones. Those are the ones we act like little kids in the dugout. You’ve got Johnson on the mound and he’s one of the best there is, I don’t care if he’s going through a rough patch or not. He’s one of the guys you’d love to have on the mound when you have a lead. Travis was fortunate enough to work his way into a hitter’s count and he didn’t miss a heater. That’s impressive coming off a guy like that. It’s not easy to do.”

Associated Press photos

The Yankees have been especially good at winning the games they’ve had a chance to win. They’ve rarely let games slip away, and rarely squandered opportunities. They nearly did both tonight, which made a 6-4 win against Baltimore all the more thrilling. Travis Hafner tied the game with a solo home run in the ninth before a two-run 10th inning gave the Yankees a wild win in their series opener at Camden Yards. The Yankees are now 19-0 when scoring first and 28-2 when leading at any point in any game this season. In the first nine innings, the Yankees had only five hits, but four were solo home runs. Robinson Cano hit his 13th of the year — first in the American League to reach 13 this season — David Adams hit the first of his career, Lyle Overbay hit his first against a lefty this season, and Hafner had his dramatic game-tying shot in the ninth. Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells each doubled in the deciding 10th. CC Sabathia allowed four runs on 11 hits through 6.1 innings, but the bullpen delivered 3.2 scoreless, ending with Mariano Rivera’s 17th save.

Associated Press photo