Game 55 Wrap-Up: MIN 7 NYY 2

(Big time oofda for D-Rob today.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

There's no better example of the Yankees' player development failures than Phil Hughes.  Once the team's top prospect and one of the top prospects in baseball, Hughes went from not living up to the hype to being just plain bad in his tenure with the team before leaving via free agency this past offseason.  The change of scenery has done wonders for him in Minnesota so far.  Amazing what can happen when you get out of a flyball park and throw more strikes, huh?  Hughes made his first appearance as an opponent this afternoon, and in a frustrating display that was all too typical, he shut down the Yankees for 8 innings and gave his team a chance to make their furious 9th inning comeback.

Game Notes:

- Chase Whitley danced around 2 baserunners in the 2nd to keep the Twins off the scoreboard.  He couldn't repeat the feat in the 3rd and they took the early lead on a Brian Dozier RBI single.

- A Brett Gardner leadoff triple got the Yanks started in the bottom of the 4th.  2 more singles, a walk, and a sac fly gave them 2 runs off Hughes and a 2-1 lead.

- Whitley didn't go deep again, only 5 innings, but he held the lead and handed it off the bullpen.  Dellin Betances got the call for the 6th and 7th and retired the sides in order with 5 strikeouts.

- The 2 runs in the 4th was all the Yanks could muster.  Hughes settled in after that and retired the next 12 batters in a row to complete 8 innings.  Talk about a knife in the heart of Yankee fans.

- Adam Warren navigated the 8th and gave way to David Robertson for the close.  D-Rob promptly gave up a solo HR to Josh Willingham to lead off the 9th, the start to an ugly 6-run inning that saw him walk 3, get pulled, and get more runs tacked onto his line thanks to the Matts- Daley and Thornton.  Brutal.

Game 54 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 MIN 1

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

When all else fails, when everybody in the lineup forgets how to hit, when players are suffering injury setbacks left and right, the Yankees still have Masahiro Tanaka.  He was on the mound yesterday in the second game of this weekend series against the Twins, and once again he stepped and gave his team a big outing when they needed one to lead them to victory.

Game Notes:

- The lone blemish on Tanaka's ledger came in the top of the 1st, once again thanks to bad infield defense.  Brian Dozier got on base to lead off the game on a Kelly Johnson error, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Josh Willingham base hit.

- It was slow sailing for the Yanks against Kevin Correia through 3 innings.  They loaded the bases in the 1st, put 2 on in the 2nd, and 1 on in the 3rd and came away with nothing, ending the first 2 innings on double plays.

- They broke through to tie the game in the bottom of the 4th on a Yangervis Solarte solo home run.  It was his 6th of the season and it came with 2 outs.  Not a bad way to break out of a slump.

- Tanaka was lights out after the 1st.  He put runners on in the 2nd and 3rd as he was finding his command, but he retired the final 8 batters he faced in order and kept the Twins off the scoreboard again through 8.

- They waited long enough, but the offense finally got him some runs to put him ahead in the bottom of the 8th.  Jacoby Ellsbury singled, stole second, and moved to third on a bad throw, Brian Roberts walked, and Brian McCann double Ellsbury home for the go-ahead run.  Johnson singled in Roberts for insurance and D-Rob struck out the side in the 9th for the save.