DETROIT — The Yankees believe Phil Hughes gives them a better chance to tame the Tigers today than David Phelps.
Hughes was scheduled to start tonight for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre but was scratched from that assignment yesterday. Instead, according to general manager Brian Cashman, Hughes will jump off the disabled list and face the Tigers, who ravaged Ivan Nova, Boone Logan and Shawn Kelley in yesterday’s 8-3 loss, at Comerica Park.
There are several ways the Yankees can go in order to get Hughes on the 25-man roster. The most logical is sending Adam Warren to SWB if, as expected, Hiroki Kuroda can start Monday in Cleveland.
Phelps could then be moved to long relief where Warren did very well Wednesday after Kuroda took a liner off the right middle finger and left the game in the second inning.
A bolder move would be sending Nova to Triple-A. Though he pitched poorly yesterday, doing that after one start is unlikely.
Because Hughes didn’t appear in a big league exhibition game because of a bulging disk in his upper back that surfaced early in camp, today will be his first taste of big league hitters since last year’s ALCS against the Tigers when he left with a back problem. The fact it’s against Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez doesn’t make it any easier.
Hughes said he was encouraged with the way he threw Monday in a game against Class-A Tampa.
“[Monday] was miles ahead of where I was,’’ Hughes said of a seven-inning stint. “The velocity was good the first two times and [Tuesday] it improved.’’The disk problem vanished but Hughes began the year on the DL to build arm strength and sharpen the control.
“There are no issues, everything is fine,’’ Hughes said.