BOSTON – Phil Hughes was terrible. Their hitters couldn’t knock out a very vulnerable Daisuke Matsuzaka. And then the night got worse for the Yankees when catcher Jose Molina was forced out of an ugly game because of a left hamstring injury that will keep him from squatting for at least the next few days and possibly could land him on the disabled list.
If all that wasn’t enough to lead to an 8-5 loss that took close to four hours to play to the Red Sox in front of 37,876 at a chilly Fenway Park, the Yankees were forced to insert the sore-shouldered Jorge Posada behind the plate when Molina left for a pinch runner in the eighth inning.
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Posada has been limited to DH duties the past four games because of a strained right shoulder that was so bad the medical staff told him not to attempt a throw in the eighth inning when the Red Sox swiped two bases on the way to a tack on run against Kyle “The Mop” Farnsworth.
“Somebody will be on the way,” Joe Girardi said of Chad Moeller (Triple-A) meeting the team tonight in St. Petersburg and likely being in the lineup against the Rays.
“It just felt tight,” said Molina, who suffered the injury sliding into home in the fourth on Johnny Damon’s sacrifice fly. “Hopefully it’s a couple of days.”
Molina is the latest injury to a team that was so proud of the way it came into spring training and put an emphasis on conditioning. Derek Jeter, who is expected to start tonight, has been out since leaving a game Monday with a strained left quad. Posada can’t throw. Jason Giambi had a groaning groin. Now Molina is down.
“We have been banged up,” said Alex Rodriguez, who went 0-for-5 and choked a scoring threat in the first by banging into an inning-ending double play. “It’s frustrating because we came out of camp in great shape. It’s better that it’s April than June or July.”
As for Hughes, if he continues to pitch as badly as he has in the past two games he will be toiling for Scranton Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A) long before June.
“Obviously he is not where he wants to be,” Girardi said of the neophyte right-hander who struggled from the first pitch and didn’t get out of the third inning in his first start ever against the Red Sox. “He will get better.”
Hughes has to improve because it’s hard to believe a pitcher with his stuff can pitch this poorly for an extended period.
“It’s early in the year and unfortunate that it’s back-to-back,” said Hughes, who gave up seven runs (six earned), six hits and walked three in two- plus innings and is 0-2. He threw 65 pitches, thanks to an inability to locate his fastball early in the at-bat. “You have to keep your head on and know it eventually will come.”
In Hughes’ last two games, he is 0-2 with a 16.20 ERA. In five innings he has given up 12 hits and seven walks.
The loss was the Yankees’ second and sent them to Florida with a 2-4 ledger on the three-city road trip that concludes with two games against the Rays tonight and tomorrow evening.
As bad as Hughes was, Matsuzaka wasn’t much better even if he won and is 3-0. Matsuzaka went the required five innings for the victory but gave up four runs, five hits and walked six. He needed 116 pitches to get 15 outs.
After a strong debut against the Blue Jays, Hughes has struggled. His last outing was a three-inning stint against the Royals in which he allowed six hits, three runs and four walks.