Major League Baseball

Hughes dazzles in Yanks' win

Published Aug. 2, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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With his starting job in jeopardy, Phil Hughes made his pitch to stay in the rotation.

Hughes pitched six innings of shutout ball and Mark Teixeira backed him with home runs from both sides of the plate, setting a record by doing it for the 12th time in his career as the New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday in a game shortened by rain to 6 1/2 innings.

Hughes (2-3), who spent nearly two months on the disabled list this season, allowed three hits against the punchless White Sox, who played their second straight game without leading hitter Paul Konerko, sidelined by a bruised calf. Hughes improved to 2-1 with a sparkling 0.75 ERA in eight career appearances against Chicago.

Teixeira's two-run shot to left batting right-handed against John Danks made it 4-0 in the third and was his 30th homer of the season, marking the seventh straight season the slugger has reached that mark. He added a solo drive batting left-handed against Jason Frasor in the seventh.

Hughes' strong outing and the velocity on his pitches — he reached 95 mph in the first inning — could lead to a tough decision for the Yankees. New York is using a six-man rotation this week but probably will need to decide between Hughes and Ivan Nova for the fifth spot at some point. Nova gets the start on Thursday.

''It didn't even really come into my mind, everything that was going on,'' Hughes said. ''It's more of a personal thing for me. I wanted to pitch well. I knew I could do better than what I'd been showing. I wanted to satisfy myself before everybody else.

''I'm pretty satisfied with this one, hopefully it's something that continues moving forward.''

Manager Joe Girardi was impressed.

''We don't have to rush to make a decision,'' he said. ''Nova's going to start on Thursday, we'll push everybody back a little bit, give some guys some extra rest, which we think is important during this time.''

''He had a rough year. It's not been easy for him and he's given up his share of hits. You can see the confidence growing, him being more aggressive as the game went on and not getting away from who he is,'' Girardi said. ''That's the best start we've seen all year.''

Chicago has lost four straight and fell 5 1/2 games behind Detroit in the AL Central. The game was delayed twice — by the threat of bad weather for 45 minutes at the start and for 57 minutes just before the bottom of the seventh by a thunderstorm — before it was called.

''I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give in,'' Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said of his approach with his reeling team. ''I'm not a loser.''

New York scored in each of the first two innings. Derek Jeter, who missed the opener of the four-game set with a bruised finger, began the game with a single and scored on Robinson Cano's two-out double to left-center. Russell Martin hit his 11th homer and first since June 29 in the second.

Danks (4-9), who also spent time on the disabled list with an oblique strain, was 4-0 in his previous six starts and hadn't lost since May 29. He gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings.

''They fouled off a lot of good pitches and made me throw a lot of pitches,'' said Danks, who ended up with 114. ''Obviously I made a couple of mistakes they hit pretty hard. ... They're where they're at for a reason.''

NOTES: RHP A.J. Burnett (8-9, 4.23 ERA) will start for the Yankees on Wednesday night. Burnett is coming off a loss to Baltimore last Friday when he struck out 11 but also gave up two homers. He is 2-5 in his career against the White Sox, including 0-1 this season. He will be opposed by RHP Gavin Floyd (9-9, 3.96), who has won three straight starts, including a victory over the Red Sox in his previous outing. Floyd will make his seventh career appearance and sixth start against the Yankees. He is 2-1 against them, including 1-0 this season. ... Guillen said Adam Dunn's demeanor hasn't changed much — at least in front of his teammates — despite his monumental struggles. Dunn is batting .165 with 138 strikeouts. He singled in the second inning. ''Maybe when he goes home, he starts crying, but when he's around us, he's very good,'' Guillen said. ''I don't see any change in his character and I don't see any change with the swing. He's struggled since spring training.'' ... Jeter also doubled and now has 3,022 hits, good for 24th place on the career list. Lou Brock is 23rd with 3,023. ... Teixeira has hit at least 30 homers in each of his first three seasons with the Yankees. Only three other players have done that with New York: Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez.

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