Phil Hughes made his third start of his 2009 campaign last night against the Orioles, but it did not last very long (53 pitches). He absorbed a beating in the second inning, and that was all the offense the Orioles would need to rip apart the Yankees.
Quick ‘Cap:
The O’s batted around in the second inning against Hughes and tallied eight runs supported by an Aubrey Huff three-run homer. Edwar Ramirez pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief, his longest outing of his career, and allowed three additional runs to make it 11-1.
The only bit of offense for the Yankees came in the fifth, when Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back bombs to right field making the score 11-4. Brett Tomko made his Yankee debut in his thirteenth year of his career in the eighth inning, and gave up a homer to Adam Jones on the second pitch of his season. Full box score here.
Thoughts:
Well, they can’t win ’em all, but they have dropped six of their last seven. For some inexplicable reason, Hughes could not get batters out, and that dug them in too deep a hole. A start like this has been a rarity this season for the Yanks, especially if you exclude Chien-Ming Wang’s three horrific starts.
Noteworthy Performances:
- Damon was the only Yankee with two hits in the game, and his fifth inning homer marked his eighth of the season and fourth of the week.
- Jonathan Albaladejo pitched two scoreless innings in relief. His clean performance improved his ERA to 5.63. Yuck.
Up Next:
The Yanks look to take the series this afternoon at 1:35 p.m. It will be Joba Chamberlain (1-1, 3.77) vs. Koji Uehara (2-3,4.42) as long as Joba’s thumb is not bothering him.
