Cano Goes Deep, Hughes Great Again

Robinson Cano has been on fire lately, and he didn't do anything on Tuesday to cool himself off. Adding another pair of hits, including homerun, to help backup Phil Hughes stellar seven inning performance in the Yankees 7-3 win over the Twins from Target Field.

"They had a lot of lefties in the lineup, and I felt like I was able to get my fastball inside to those guys, for the most part," Hughes said. "I made a few critical pitches when I had to to get out of some jams, the offense did their job, and it was a good win."

Minnesota wasted no time getting on the board with a first inning run off of Hughes, who had gotten himself into trouble at several points throughout the night.

Facing 30-year-old righty Samuel Deduno, the Yankees had no answer against him for the first three inning, being set down in order up until Ichiro walked with one-out in the inning. Cano followed with a walk, giving the Yankees a good chance to go some damage, but were unable to plate any runs.

The Yankees didn't touch the scoreboard until the 5th inning when Alberto Gonzalez doubled with a couple runners on base, driving home two of his three RBI in the game. Ichiro came up a couple batters later an beat out a slow dribbler down the 1st base line, letting Gonzalez score the third Yankee run.

After Gonzalez added another run in the 7th on a single to right that plated Adams, his 3rd RBI and 2nd hit, Robbie Cano sent flying his 4th homerun in three games, a towering three-run blast that set the Yankees ahead, 7-1.

"Everyone knows very well what my role on this team is," Gonzalez said. "Joe knows it, I know it. I'm always ready, I work very, very hard at every practice, at every position, and I'm always ready when the team needs me and when the manager needs me."

Cano gave Hughes a big enough lead for him to finish off the 7th inning, allowing only one run on six hits, while walking two and striking out three to pick up his first win since June 7th in Seattle.

It's the second straight impressive outing for Hughes, after giving up only two runs in 8 innings against the Rangers last week.

"I think he's been more consistent. I also think it's fastball command, too," Girardi said. "I think that's really important for him, but I think when you're mixing all your pitches, sometimes you get away with a little bit more."

Preston Claiborne tossed a scoreless 8th inning, but couldn't duplicate it in the 9th, giving up a pair of runs on three hits to left the Twins make it a 7-3 game. Adam Warren also couldn't close out the game and was removed after walking the only batter he faced.

This game called for Mariano Rivera to come in and shut things down, getting Ryan Doumit to ground into a fielders choice to end the game, earning his 27th save of the season, needing only one out to it.

Game three of this four game series will take place tomorrow with CC Sabathia (8-6, 4.15) facing off against P.J. Walters (2-4, 6.03) at 8:10 p.m. ET from Target Field in Minnesota.

Kuroda in New York:

Hiroki Kuroda was sent back to New York before tonight's game, and according to manager Joe Girardi, Kuroda is dealing with a sore left hip flexor, luckily the MRI results came back clean. Ivan Nova will start on Friday against the Orioles in his place.

"There's no tears," Girardi said. "He's a little sore. That's the best news we could have got."

"That's what you want, a clean MRI," manager Joe Girardi said of the results. "He was a little tender after the game on Sunday, so it's good news. He said he felt better today."

Nix day to day:

The Yankees had no choice but to play with a two-man bench on Tuesday, with Jayson Nix out on a day to day basis with a sore right hamstring. Nix says he hurt the hamstring running out a double in the 9th inning of the Yankees' 10-4 victory over the Twins on Monday.

"It just kind of tightened up a little bit when I stretched out the double last night," Nix said. "I wasn't too concerned about it, just something that was there and was a little bit sore after the game. It's a little something that kind of started, so we're going to keep it under control."

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