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New York Yankees Recap: Ivan Nova’s Solid Outing Helps Yanks Avoid Sweep Against Phillies

By Ricky Keeler

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After getting bad outings from Michael Pineda and C.C. Sabathia in the first two games of their series against the Phillies, the New York Yankees and their fans were not sure what to expect from Ivan Nova today. Nova was making his first start since April 2014 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Plus, he was going up against Cole Hamels. However, Nova was solid in his return and the Yanks had two big innings against Hamels, which proved the difference as New York avoided the sweep in a 10-2 win.

The scoring started for the Bronx Bombers in the bottom of the second inning. Chris Young led off the inning with a base hit to center. After a John Ryan Murphy walk, Didi Gregorius hit a bunt that bounced off the plate, which allowed him to reach first and load the bases.

Then, Jose Pirela hit a ground ball to third that Andres Blanco fielded, but the throw was not handled well by Ruiz as the ball went past home plate and allowed Young and Murphy to score the first two runs of the game.

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Two innings later, the Yankees would take advantage of some bad defense by the Phillies. Gregorius led off the inning with a double that Freddy Galvis lost in the sun. After a Jose Pirela walk, Brett Gardner continued his great homestand with a RBI single to make it 3-0. Chase Headley would follow that up with a double under the glove of Blanco and into left field to make it 4-0. Two batters later, the scoring would end on a Mark Teixeira single to right field that gave the Yanks a commanding 5-0 lead.

In his return to the rotation, Ivan Nova (1-0, 0.00) had a fastball that reached up to 95 mph and had good command of his sinker and curveball. He went 6.2 innings, gave up no runs on three hits, walked two, and struck out one in the win. He got into a bit of trouble in the third, but struck out Maikel Franco to end the inning. Joe Girardi was ejected from the game during that at-bat when he argued a check swing by Franco.

As for Cole Hamels (5-6, 3.26), he was let down by his defense, but did not have his best stuff today. He went five innings, gave up five runs on eight hits, struck out three and walked three in the loss. Jake Diekman came in to pitch the sixth inning, but gave up a two-out RBI single to Chris Young that gave New York a 6-0 lead.

Then, in the seventh, New York put up four runs against Justin De Fratus. With Gregorius on first via a leadoff walk, Jose Pirela ripped a double off the wall in center field for the first run of the inning. After back-to-back walks by Gardner and Headley, Alex Rodriguez drove in two more runs with a base hit to left field. Finally, Teixeira picked up his second RBI of the day when he singled to center to put the Yankees up 10-0.

Bryan Mitchell, who came in for Nova to get the final out of the seventh, gave up no hits to the four batters he faced. Diego Moreno would come in to pitch the top of the ninth, but gave up three straight hits. The Phillies got on the board when Domonic Brown singled to center to drive in Ryan Howard, who doubled to begin the inning. Two batters later, Cody Asche made it 10-2 with a RBI groundout to third, but those were the only runs Ryne Sandberg‘s club would score today.

In the win, Teixeira, who was in the lineup for the first time since Sunday, went 3-for-5 with two RBI’s and the 6-9 hitters in the lineup (Young, Murphy, Gregorius, and Pirela) went 7-for-17 with three RBI’s and six runs scored.

Next Game: The New York Yankees (39-33) will begin a four game series with the Houston Astros (42-31) tomorrow night at Minute Maid Park. You can catch the game at 8:10 PM ET on YES. Adam Warren (5-4, 3.62) gets the start for the Yankees against Houston’s ace, Dallas Keuchel (8-3, 2.35).

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