No Alex Rodriguez? No Curtis Granderson? No problem for the Yankees.
With Granderson on the disabled list and Rodriguez sitting because of pain behind his right knee, manager Joe Girardi had to rearrange his lineup yesterday. He had Nick Swisher bat cleanup for the first time this season, put Brett Gardner, his usual No. 9 hitter, into the eighth spot — and also trotted fifth starter Phil Hughes out to the mound to battle the White Sox’s most accomplished pitcher, Mark Buehrle.
The result?
Gardner hit his first home run in nearly a year, Swisher went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and Hughes made his case for being better than a No. 5, firing seven scoreless innings as the Yankees won the series clincher, 12-3 at Yankee Stadium.
Obviously, the Yankees are so deep that they can afford to lose a hitter or two and still put together their biggest offensive explosion of the season.
“We’ve got Curtis down right now and Alex with the day off and our lineup wasn’t our Opening Day lineup,” Hughes said, “so to put up that number of runs is nice.”
And it didn’t hurt that Hughes was magnificent, surrendering just four hits and striking out six to improve to 3-0 and lower his ERA to 1.44.
“I think we all try to have each other’s back,” Swisher said.
The Yankees (16-8) have won seven of their eight series this season. They still trail the Rays by 1½ games in the AL East, but the two teams have the AL’s best records.
The Yankees pounded Buehrle and the Chicago bullpen, getting their most runs and hits (16) of the season and their biggest inning, a five-run seventh. Six players had multiple hits and six players drove in runs. Robinson Cano delivered his ninth homer and is now hitting .387, and Mark Teixeira busted out of his April slump with a four-hit, two-RBI day, his second consecutive multi-hit game.
Even Nick Johnson, mired in a season-long slump that has his batting average at .141, drove in two runs with a seventh-inning double.
“It was a good day for everyone,” Teixeira said.
Gardner’s solo blast off Buehrle in the fourth inning marked his first homer since last June 26 and his first homer against a lefty in his career.
“I’m sure we’ll hear about it for a while,” Hughes quipped of the light-hitting speedster, who also had an RBI single for the Yankees’ first run.
Hughes will be talked about plenty himself. In his four starts this season, he has surrendered a total of 10 hits. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen called Hughes one of the best pitchers Chicago has faced this season.
“He’s doing everything that you can ask him to do,” Girardi said.
All four hits Hughes allowed were singles — two of them infield ones. He also reached 95 mph on the radar gun and walked just one.
“The confidence is incredible,” Teixeira said of Hughes. “He’s throwing every single pitch with authority.”
And with confidence. Hughes said he doesn’t feel like the fifth starter.
“I’m just a starter,” he said.
And Hughes’ team — as deep as can be — continues to soar.
Additional reporting
by Fred Kerber