New York Yankees Recap: Phil Hughes Helps Twins Snap Yanks’ 4-Game Win Streak

By Ricky Keeler | Jul 24, 2015

The New York Yankees began a ten game road trip tonight when they took on the Minnesota Twins in the first game of a four game series. The pitching matchup was an interesting one as Michael Pineda (9-7, 3.97) went up against former Yankee, Phil Hughes (9-6, 3.93). However, it was Hughes who had the edge tonight as Pineda gave up runs in three of the first four innings. The Twins snapped the Yankees’ four game winning streak by beating the Bronx Bombers, 10-1.

The scoring started in the bottom of the first inning for the Twins. Torii Hunter would single to left field with one out. Two batters later, Miguel Sano would crush a slider by Pineda over the wall in dead center for a two-run shot. His third of the season gave Minnesota an early 2-0 lead.

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The lead became 3-0 in the bottom of the second. Eddie Rosario led off the inning by hitting a bloop double off the glove of Didi Gregorius and into left field. Two batters later, Kurt Suzuki would drive Rosario in with a base hit to center field.

Two innings later, Minnesota had the first two hitters of the frame reach base as Trevor Plouffe singled to center and Rosario hit his second double of the night. With runners on second and third, Aaron Hicks drove in Plouffe with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-0. Suzuki would follow that up with his second RBI of the night as he singled to center to score Rosario again and extend the Twins’ lead to 5-0.

While Pineda did not walk a batter in this game, the Yankees right-hander had an off night on the mound. He went 5.2 innings, gave up five runs on eight hits and struck out four on 92 pitches (65 strikes). He would end up taking his seventh loss of the season.

The five runs would be plenty of support for Phil Hughes. The Yankees were not able to record an extra-base hit against Hughes as the right-hander went seven innings, gave up no runs on seven hits, and struck out three in the victory. New York’s best chance to score runs against him came in the top of the seventh.

With two outs, Chase Headley, Gregorius, and Stephen Drew would each single to load the bases. But, Jacoby Ellsbury would line out to left on the first pitch he saw to end the scoring chance.

With Branden Pinder in the game, the Twins would tack on a run in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Hunter would drive in a run with his 15^th home run of the season. The solo home run to left gave Minnesota a 6-0 lead. But, the scoring would not stop there.

In the bottom of the eighth, Plouffe led off the inning by hitting a solo shot against Chris Capuano to make it 7-0 Twins. Later in the inning, after Rosario’s third double of the night, Hicks drove in his second RBI of the game as Rosario scored on the base hit to center to increase their lead to 8-0.

The Twins would reach double digits when Brian Dozier hit a two-run shot to left field for his 21st home run of the season. The Yankees would avoid the shutout in the top of the ninth when Ellsbury hit a sacrifice fly to center against Casey Fien that scored Gregorius, who singled and reached second on an error to begin the inning.

Next Game: The New York Yankees (53-42) will be back in action tomorrow night when they play the second game of their three game series against the Minnesota Twins (52-44) at Target Field. You can catch the game at 7:10 PM ET on WPIX. C.C Sabathia (4-8., 5.25) gets the start for the Yankees against Tommy Milone (5-2, 3.38) for the Twins in a battle of left-handers.

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