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DETROIT — Phil Hughes has been through a lot during his major league career, but he’s never taken the mound for the Yankees facing the stiff odds in tonight’s ALCS Game 3 against the Tigers.
“There’s always questions that come with every start and I don’t really feel like I can … feel any added pressure just because of the circumstances,” Hughes said during a conference call before the Yankees face Detroit, down by two games. “[I can’t] really worry about being down 0-2; that [Justin] Verlander is on the mound; that we don’t have our captain. Those sorts of things are going to be wasted energy.”
Instead, he’s focused on the Tigers — and that’s just as well, since the Yankees looked lost during most of their last two defeats, unable to score against anyone other than Jose Valverde, and are without Derek Jeter, who had been one of the offense’s only reliable weapons before he fractured his left ankle in the 12th inning of Game 2.
But Hughes couldn’t deny the impact the sputtering offense has had on the rest of the team.
“It has been a struggle,” Hughes said of the faltering bats. “Obviously, we are not used to it. As a pitcher sitting on the bench, I am not used to seeing it, either. We are a team that is a high‑powered offense. We get a lot of home runs and things like that. But anytime you are going through these struggles, as pitchers, we take it as we have to step up and do a better job and put up a bunch of zeros because we know we can scratch and claw and put together a couple of runs.”
There is reason to believe Hughes can slow down Detroit tonight. A year ago, Hughes pitched well out of the bullpen against the Tigers in the ALDS. And in his one ALDS start this year, he allowed a run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings in Game 4 — though it was largely forgotten in the Yankees’ 2-1, 13-inning loss.
Joe Girardi, though he had the option of turning to CC Sabathia on short rest, never wavered about going with Hughes for this game, regardless of the situation.
“It’s nice to know the manager of the organization is behind you,” Hughes said. “It’s a great opportunity and I feel like if we can win this Game 3, we’ll have a good chance with CC going [in Game 4]. So it’s nice to have that and have that vote of confidence, but I am still going to have to go out and execute.”
dan.martin@nypost.com