MINNEAPOLIS — After throwing three perfect innings and 35 pitches in relief Friday, when he was the winner against the Twins at Target Field, David Huff was asked if he were stretched out enough should Yankees manager Joe Girardi be looking for a starter to replace Vidal Nuno or Chase Whitley.
“I think so, we’ll see,’’ said Huff, who is 2-0 with a 1.76 ERA in eight relief appearances since being acquired from the Giants on June 11 for cash.
As for Whitley, he is 0-3 with a ghastly 14.81 ERA in his last three starts and not fooling anybody.
“I was unable to repeat my delivery,’’ said Whitley, who was fortunate to not get saddled with another loss after giving up four runs and eight hits through three innings Friday in the Yankees’ 6-5 victory. “It’s been an issue the last couple of times. I have to battle through it.’’
A reliever for most of his minor league career, Whitley has worked 49 innings in 10 games as a starter, and the right-hander could be tired.
“It’s hard to say,’’ Whitley said of fatigue being a problem. “This is the most starts, obviously. We have to figure it out.’’
Brian McCann’s left foot wasn’t swollen or bruised as he sat at his locker Friday morning, but it was enough of a problem that Girardi started Francisco Cervelli behind the plate.
“It’s sore, and when I push off, it bites,’’ McCann said of the feeling he got when he moved out of the batter’s box Thursday night on a single to right during the Yankees’ 7-4 win. “I’ll be all right.’’
McCann said he could have played Friday. Cervelli started behind the plate for the seventh time this season and went 3-for-4 with two doubles.
After starting nine straight games and playing seven consecutive days, Derek Jeter sat on Friday.
“Just a day off. He’s played seven days in a row and a day game after a night game,’’ said Girardi, who started Brendan Ryan at short for the ninth time this year. “Just a day off in a long stretch.’’
Ryan delivered a sacrifice fly in the Yankees’ three-run second.
In Jeter’s last 21 games since June 10, he is batting .302 (26-for-86).
Zelous Wheeler’s MLB debut included his first hit — a homer — and a 2-for-4 night that helped the Yankees win Thursday, but Girardi started Kelly Johnson at third base Friday.
“That’s as good as it gets,” Girardi said of Wheeler. “He was drafted in 2007 [by the Brewers] and his first hit is a home run.’’
Wheeler said by the time he spoke to his mother in Alabama on Thursday night, she had lost her voice from celebration screams.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Wheeler is the sixth Yankee in the last 40 years whose first big league was a homer. The others are Andy Phillips, Marcus Thames, Alfonso Soriano, Dan Pasqua and Joe Lefebvre.
Inserted as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning for Johnson, Wheeler made a sensational catch on Sam Fuld’s foul pop for what was initially called the first out of the ninth. However, a review showed Wheeler was inside the Yankees’ dugout and on the way down the steps when he made the catch, and thus out of play.
“I thought he was out but it’s not my call,” Wheeler said. “ My job is to catch it.’’
The Yankees have won seven straight at Target Field and are 13-3 all-time at the facility that opened in 2010.
Mark Teixeira loves seeing the Twins and Target Field. Since 2003 his .371 (101-for-272) career batting average against the Twins is the highest among all major league players, and he’s batting .364 (12-for-33) in nine career games at Target.
Major League Baseball commemorated the 75th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s inspirational “Luckiest Man’’ speech Friday.
“I think it’s an important date in American history and an important day in Yankees history,’’ Girardi said. “The type of player he was and the type of man he was and what he meant to the organization.’’
Why the Yankees weren’t home for the anniversary is a question only the schedule maker can answer, but it would have been a better setting than a city in which Gehrig never played.