David Huff was supposed to replace Phil Hughes in the Yankees’ rotation — not replicate one of his brutal performances.
The Yankees were hoping to at least get length out of Huff to rest their depleted and struggling bullpen, to serve as a Band-Aid for their gaping pitching problem. Instead, he exacerbated the bleeding, crushed by the red-hot Red Sox lineup in a 13-9 loss in The Bronx Saturday.
“On my behalf, it was terrible,” he said. “To come off what I’ve been doing here and have that happen today, it’s just embarrassing on my behalf.”
Huff, in his first start for the Yankees, came out of the gate rolling — striking out Shane Victorino and Jonny Gomes in a quick 11-pitch first inning. He would like to forget what followed. He threw 54 pitches the rest of the way and allowed nine earned runs — that’s equal to one run every six pitches. He failed to get out of the fourth, allowing two mammoth home runs and eight hits — six for extra bases — over 3 ¹/₃ innings pitched.
The big blow was a three-run homer from Gomes into the second deck in left field, the slugging outfielder crushing a 3-0 fastball over the heart of the plate in the third. First baseman Mike Napoli also took Huff deep, waiting on a 3-1 change-up and drilling it several rows back in the bleachers to stake Boston to an early 2-0 lead and shake up Huff, who began nibbling after his aggressive start.
“They put some good swings on balls,” Huff said. “Even though that happens, it shouldn’t change anything. I should still go right after guys.”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he isn’t sure yet how he will proceed with Huff. Hughes wasn’t exactly lights out in his one appearance out of the bullpen, giving up four earned runs on three hits in just one-third of an inning in Friday’s 12-8 defeat.
Huff was released by the Indians May 23 after eight years in the organization and was picked up by the Yankees off waivers. He had pitched well since getting called up Aug. 15 from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, excelling as a long reliever and allowing just a single run in his past 15 innings pitched before Saturday’s battering. Against Boston’s powerful lineup, however, he was without an answer. The righty fell behind and the Red Sox punished him, his ERA rising from a tiny 1.13 to a bloated 6.45.