Extra rest and Phil Hughes are the recipe for a pitching disaster.
After A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte left the previous games with a hand and groin problems, respectively, the Yankees were hoping Hughes could build on his previous outing.
Instead, the All-Star right-hander was spanked by the Angels in a 10-2 loss that was witnessed by 47,775 at Yankee Stadium.
Since Hughes pitched poorly for the second time after an extended rest, is there a pattern developing for a pitcher whose innings will likely be capped at the 170 mark and who has logged 106?
“The bottom line is that he has limitations and we have to respect that,” manager Joe Girardi said of Hughes, who has pitched terribly after two stretches of inactivity. “It’s difficult for any pitcher when you have long layoffs.”
In an effort to curtail Hughes’ innings, he went from June 19-29 without working and was punished by the Mariners for seven runs (six earned) and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
He was a little better the next time on regular rest against the Blue Jays and threw very well five days later against the Mariners in the final outing before the All-Star break.
But last night Hughes (11-3) was working on 10 days’ rest — not counting his 13-pitch All-Star Game outing — and had no command of his fastball and watched his cutter get hit like the Angels knew it was coming.
The most positive news for Hughes was that a first-inning ground ball by Howie Kendrick that grazed Hughes right leg didn’t injure him.
“To take us out of the game was disappointing,” said Hughes, who flushed a 2-0 first-inning lead by giving up runs in the second and third, two in the fourth and two in the fifth. “I have to make better pitches and find a way to keep us in the game.”
Hughes surrendered two-run homers to Maicer Izturis and Mike Napoli. Chan Ho Park gave up a two-run homer to old friend Hideki Matsui.
When Nick Swisher homered and Jorge Posada traded a groundout for an RBI in the first for a 2-0 lead against Sean O’Sullivan, it appeared the right-hander wasn’t long for his first major league start of the season. Recalled from Triple-A yesterday because Scott Kazmir is on the disabled list, O’Sullivan rebounded to blank the Yankees across the next six frames. From the first to the fifth O’Sullivan retired 12 straight.
“He had a very good change-up,” Posada said of O’Sullivan, whose only other start this year was at Triple-A. “When he got behind in the count he threw a change-up.”
Mark Teixeira, who went 0-for-2 and walked twice, said it was a combination of O’Sullivan, who none of the Yankees had seen, throwing well and the Yankee bats not being good enough.
“He pitched well but we didn’t swing the bats well,” Teixeira said.
Alex Rodriguez’s quest for 600 homers stayed at 598 when he went 2-4 with a double and single.