Phil Hughes retired eight of the last nine batters he faced to improve to 8-6. (Neil Miller)
It’s not like the Yankees need much help to beat the Indians.
Phil Hughes shut down the hapless Cleveland bats and the Yankees got plenty of offense against Justin Masterson in winning their fourth straight.
But in addition to all that, they got a nice assist from the umpires in a 6-4 victory in The Bronx.
“It seems like right now, everything is going right for us,” said catcher Chris Stewart.
Indeed.
With two outs in the top of the seventh and Michael Brantley on third, Jack Hannahan popped a ball into foul territory in left. Dewayne Wise reached into the stands, fell over and briefly appeared to make the catch.
At least that’s what third base umpire Mike DiMuro thought.
In fact, replays showed the ball bounced off Wise’s glove and the left fielder never even picked up the ball. Vinnie Pellegrino of West Islip, sitting about five seats from where Wise went into the stands, had it, and initially held the ball high in the air for all — well, except DiMuro, who was jogging right past him — to see. Pellegrino tried to put the ball back into Wise’s glove, but was unable to, according to MLB.com. So Wise jogged off the field empty-handed.
“It was the greatest no-catch in history,” Nick Swisher said. “But it’s not like he’s going to tell the ump he didn’t catch it.”
It wasn’t a difficult decision for Wise, who was making his second straight start in the outfield, after playing center on Monday.
“What was I supposed to do?” Wise asked. “Run back to left field?”
DiMuro admitted his mistake after the game — after ejecting Hannahan for later arguing the call.
“I went out on the ball and saw the ball into his glove in the stands,” DiMuro said. “He disappeared into the stands and I believed that the ball was in his glove.”
His next error was not asking Wise to see proof of the catch.
“In hindsight, I should have asked him to show me the ball since he fell into the stands and out of my line of vision,” DiMuro said.
Hughes had no reservations admitting his good fortune.
“I got lucky right there,” Hughes said. “Sometimes, the call goes your way. … I’d like to think I’d strike the guy out with the next pitch, but I was happy to get the call.”
The right-hander couldn’t be blamed for being confident that he might have gotten out of the inning on his own.
After serving up four home runs in his previous start — a 4 1/3-inning fiasco against the Braves — the fly ball pitcher got two double-play grounders in the first five innings and won for the fifth time in his last seven starts.
Hughes also retired eight of the last nine batters he faced to improve to 8-6.
The Yankees jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second with a run-scoring single by Stewart and then a base hit by Curtis Granderson that drove in two more. It was a sign of things to come, as the Yankees went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Alex Rodriguez hit a long homer to left in the seventh — his 13th — to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead, which proved to be insurmountable, maybe in part because of DiMuro.
Though Indians manager Manny Acta shrugged off the controversial play, Hannahan did not.
“I can live with the fact that he didn’t see him drop the ball. Or the fan jumping up and down two feet away, excited that he got a foul ball,” he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “For him not to ask to see the ball is absolutely inexcusable.”
“It’s a difficult time to be an umpire,” Girardi said.
dan.martin@nypost.com