Yanks Look For Final First-Half Win

The bats were quiet on Saturday,touching home plate only once, coming in the first inning, against the Twins and Samuel Deduno. Phil Hughes struck out 10, but come out on the losing end because of a trio homeruns he allowed on the day.

Now on the final day of the first half of the 2013 season, CC Sabathia will take the mound for the Yankees as they look to claim one more victory before setting off for the all-star break.

Today's lineup, 1:05 EST @ Yankee Stadium:

Suzuki 8
Almonte 7
Cano 4
Hafner DH
Wells 9
Overbay 3
Nunez 6
Cruz 5
Stewart 2
Sabathia 1

Pitching Preview:

The last time CC Sabathia took the mound against the Minnesota Twins, he gave up two runs on seven hit, while walking three and striking out nine over seven innings of work to earn the 200th victory of his career.

Sabathia dominated his last start, but was once again a victim of poor run support, taking the loss against the Royals after tossing the complete nine innings while allowing just three runs on seven hits.

The Twins will send out rookie Kyle Gibson to take the mound against the Yankees for the second time this season, after taking the loss on a July 4th meeting in which the Yankees won.

Gibson gave up eight runs on 11 hits and one walk in only 5 1/3 innings pitched back on Independence Day, and he holds a 1-2 record with a 7.27 ERA through first three big league starts.

Yankee Notes:

* Travis Ishikawa elected to become a free-agent in lieu of taking a trip to Triple-A to play with the Scranton/Wilkes-Berre RailRiders. Ishikawa played one game with the Yankees, going 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts against the Royals last Monday.

* When the Yankees resume play for the second half of the season, the begin road trip that starts in Boston for a three-game set on Friday. The Yankees have set their rotation for that series: Friday for Pettitte, Kuroda on Saturday and CC on Sunday.

* Alex Rodriguez will make the trip north to join the Trenton Thunder this week for a three-game series against the Reading Phillies. As for today, he'll be batting 2nd, serving as the DH for the Tampa Yankees in his 8th rehab game.

* American League All-Star Game manager Jim Leyland said that he'll be naming three replacement pitchers on Sunday, meaning that there's still a chance Hiroki Kuroda will be at Citi Field on Tuesday.

Follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.