Phil Hughes lasted five innings in his first start since coming off the disabled list. He gave up two runs, which wasn’t so bad, but allowed six hits and two walks, in addition to hitting two batters. All in all, he looked rusty, leaving pitches up, and was lucky to get away with just the two runs allowed. It very much reminded me of an Ivan Nova outing.
Meanwhile, Justin Masterson mastered the Yankees, shutting them out for eight innings. New York scored three in the ninth off the bullpen, but that wasn’t enough as Cleveland took the rubber game of the series 5-3. Justin walked two and struck out six, lowering his ERA to 2.66.
Derek Jeter doubled, bringing his hit total to 2997 as he heads home for a four-game series against the Rays. He’s only 21 doubles away from 500 for his career.
Seems one of the ESPN guys said during the game that Hughes had a cyst removed from his labrum in April. Labrum cysts tend to be a complication from a labrum lesion (tear), which explains his velocity drop.
Depending on the severity of the lesion, one can do surgery or do a 2 month rest/strengthening program (which is what the yankees did).
Did not look very good to me. Had a huge strike zone and hitters with poor discipline, and still allowed 10 runners and was fortunate to only give up 2 runs. He also seemed to shy away from his FB which was 93 but seemed rather flat.