Yankees Recap-Teixeira, Cano and Hughes Lead To 6-1 Victory

Aided by back to back home runs by Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira, and the three hit pitching of Phil Hughes, the  New York Yankees crushed the Seattle Mariners 6-1 Thursday night.

Cano, who has slumped of late, is reaping the dividends of having Teixeira behind him in the batting order. The blasts helped the Yankees to score six runs in the third inning and made the night comfortable for Hughes the rest of the way.

“I see a difference,” Cano said. “I’m getting more pitches to hit. It’s good to have him back.”

Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

And Teixeira likes the pitches he has seen too. He now has three home runs since his return. While he knows he is getting better, he admits that he still has work to do.

“It feels good, he said. “I’m still not close to where I want to be, overall. There are still at-bats where I feel completely lost. But that’s going to take time. That’s just a product of not playing for so long.”

As for Hughes, he elected to use his full arsenal of pitches. This prevented Mariner batters from sitting on the fastball.

“I mixed stuff up a lot more,” he said. “That made things a lot easier for my fastball …”

The Yankees third inning eruption against Mariner’s starter Aaron Harang began with a Jayson Nix single. Nix and Brett Gardner then combined on a perfectly executed hit and run, which left them on first and third. That set the table for Cano’s 15th home run. Teixera followed Cano with his blast and the rest was icing on the cake.

Although the Mariners struggled through a 16- inning loss to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, this was a matter of the Yankees seizing the opportunity rather than the Mariners falling asleep.

Travis Hafner went two for four and Kevin Youkilis, Vernon Wells and Ichiro Suzuki also added hits.

Following the departure of Hughes in the eighth inning, Preston Claiborne, Boone Logan and Shawn Kelley combined to get the final six outs to give David Robertson and Mariano Rivera the night off.