04/22: Rivera Struggles But Saves Hughes Masterpiece

Posted by: David
It wasn't vintage Mo on Wednesday night in Oakland, but even when he isn't his dominant self, the outcome is still successful.

The night belonged to Phil Hughes. With his mom and dad in the stands, Phil Hughes pitched no hit ball for seven innings and had allowed only one baserunner on a walk. Eric Chavez led off the eighth and on the first pitch bounced a fast ball back through the mound. Hughes stopped it with his glove but then couldn't find the ball and Chavez reached with a single. Hughes got one out and gave way to Joba Chamberlain who got through the eighth by only allowing one run to score and keep the lead for the Yankees at 2-1.

The Yankees produced an insurance run in the ninth with a clutch two out RBI single from Brett Gardner that scored Curtis Granderson to make the score 3-1.

In the ninth, Rivera faced Daric Barton to start the inning and Barton battled for nine pitches before fouling out to A-Rod. Ryan Sweeney lined a single to center and that was followed by Kurt Suzuki being hit by a pitch to put the potential tying runs on base.

Eric Chavez was next and he battled but hit into a force play 1-6 for the second out. Kevin Kouzmanoff was the last hope and Mo got ahead quickly at 0-2 before he induced Kouzmanoff to fly to center to end the game.

For Rivera, it is his sixth save of the season in six save opportunities. He had twenty-six pitches on the evening. For his career, Rivera now has 532 saves. His 2010 season ERA remains at 0.00.

The Yankee scoring early was highlighted by back to back triples from A-Rod and Cano. The series concludes tomorrow afternoon with CC Sabathia on the hill for the Pinstripers.

Comments

moises Young Diaz wrote:

Phil Hughes looks great, good pitching. Mariano, the Panamanian Sensational, came out in the 9th inning and the game is over. It was not a great outing, but you save the game; we should not worried because is April and usually you will get stronger at the end of the season, when the weather gets better. Arriba Mariano.
04/22 10:14:59

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