YANKS ROUT ROYALS; HUGHES SOLID, BATS COME ALIVE

(Phil Hughes pitches 6.2 innings, gets 2nd win of season)

Behind Phil Hughes' 6.2 impressive innings and three bombs hit by Cano, Swisher, and Arod, the New York Yankees earned a split of the 4 game series against Kansas City this afternoon with a 10-4 win.  Hughes was solid only allowing 3 earned runs and striking out a season high 7 Royals on his way to his his second win of the year.  Hughes threw 115 pitches and 75 were for strikes.  He had tremendous control and great velocity.  Hughes was the beneficiary of a long overdue offensive explosion by the Bronx Bombers, but did exactly what the Yankees asked of him today.  Last week I mentioned in my game recap that Hughes has earned the right to stay in the starting five and today's performance backed me up (thank God!).  The Yankees bullpen picked up where Hughes left off only giving up 1 earned the rest of the way.

(Cano congratulated by teammates after his 3rd inning Grand Slam)

It was nice to see the Yankee bats finally wake up.  They had 12 hits and 5 were for extra base hits, including the 3 home runs I mentioned above.  The biggest homer was hit by Robinson Cano who has struggled this season with men on base.  Well he took care of that with one swing in the 3rd when he hit his first grand slam of the season that gave the Yankees a 6-1 lead and they never looked back.  Cano finished the day 2-5 with those 4 RBIs.  It was also great to have Swisher back in the lineup after missing six games.  Swish hit his bomb also in the 3rd and knocked in his 24th RBI of the season.  Surprisingly, despite missing six games, Swisher still leads the Yankees in RBIs. 

The Yankees are off tomorrow before starting a six-game home stand against Tampa Bay.  BYB will post a preview of that Yankees/Rays series tomorrow evening.

Game Notes:
Jeter continues to flirt with .400 going 2-3 today, including leading off the game with a double on the first pitch of the game..  Jeter also walked 2 more times today.  He has an incredible On Base Percentage of .440 this season.

*Arod's went 2-4 today with a 3-run blast (his 5th HR of the year) in the 5th. 
*Granderson hit in the two-hole today and also had a pair of hits with an RBI.
*Ibanez DH'd today and had a pair of hits including an RBI single in the 2nd inning that got the Yankees on the board.
*Andy Pettitte pitched five innings and allowed five runs, three earned, on eight hits Sunday for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate. Pettitte could join the Yankees roster this week.

--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer
Email: DonnieBaseball2323@gmail.com
Twitter: @MikeyBlu23

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