Yankees Blast Their Way to Another Win

Let's hope the regular season goes this smoothly. The Yankees got another good performance from a starting pitcher, this time Phil Hughes, and belted four home runs in a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers, FL this afternoon. The victory was the Yankees 7th straight and raised their spring record to 13-8-1.

Mark Teixeira went deep for the first time in pinstripes (or in this case, navy blue Yankees workout shirts) as did Trevor Linden. Teixeira's home run came off of Twins closer Joe Nathan in the sixth inning and cut Minnesota's lead in half. Linden went deep with a man aboard in the eighth to put the Yankees ahead for good. Austin Jackson added his second home run of the spring in the ninth for some insurance. It came off of Jason Jones, the Rule V draftee that was taken from the Yankees over the winter. He's got a chance to make the opening day roster after having allowed three runs in 10 innings thus far.

It's been a good transition for Tex so far this spring. He's hitting .414 (12-29) with three doubles and three RBI to go along with his first home run. He's also walking three times and has a gaudy 1.076 OPS. Tyler Kepner of the Times spoke with Teixeira about his transition to the Yankees.

Hughes was sharp, allowing a run and three hits over 4.1 innings. He walked one and struck out none. Anthony Claggett picked up the victory with an innings of scoreless work, and Kei Igawa escaped a jam in the ninth inning to record the save.

Jason Johnson also made his second appearance since surgery for eye cancer. The Star Ledger's Marc Carig has a nice story on his recovery.

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