Colby Lewis didn't quite live up to his standards of giving Texas a quality start Saturday against the New York Yankees. Manager Ron Washington didn't seem too concerned about that, though, after the Rangers evened the ALCS.
Lewis pitched 52/3 innings, allowing two runs and becoming the first Rangers pitcher to beat the Yankees in the playoffs since John Burkett did it in Game 1 of the 1996 American League Division Series.
"He gave us exactly what we needed," Washington said. "I've always said, if he can command his ball, keep them out of too many offensive counts that he would do well. And he certainly did.
New York forced Lewis to throw 102 pitches, but he didn't allow any big innings.
Said pitching coach Mike Maddux: "He had a very good curveball today that was above his normal game and he used that well. ... He neutralized them and battled through a couple of issues and was on top of the count for the most part."
After 2 scoreless starts, Hughes gets crushed
Phil Hughes went from never giving up a run at Rangers Ballpark to hardly going an inning without doing so.
Hughes entered Saturday with 15 1/3 scoreless innings in Arlington. The streak came to a halt when leadoff man Elvis Andrus stole home in the first inning. Then the Rangers began taking their whacks against the big right-hander, scoring two runs apiece in the second, third and fifth innings.
Hughes' awful outing followed a similar flop by Yankees ace CC Sabathia in Game 1. As worrisome as that is for the reigning World Series champs, the Yankees could soon be concerned about the innings being piled up by their bullpen — nine through two games. Every reliever has gotten in, with Joba Chamberlain appearing twice.
Pettitte concerned about start on Monday
After watching Sabathia and Hughes struggle after long layoffs, Andy Pettitte admitted that he has some concerns heading into his start.
The Yankees have to go up against dominant left-hander Cliff Lee in Game 3 and plan to send the unpredictable A.J. Burnett to the mound in Game 4.
Pettitte is hoping he doesn't have any negative effects from the 10 days of rest he will have since he last pitched in Minnesota, in ALDS Game 2 on Oct. 7.
"Obviously, it's going to be 11 days for me making this start on Monday, which is an awful long time," Pettitte said. "You'd rather pitch on three days' rest than (10) days' rest."
Pettitte said he is convinced that the long layoffs negatively affected Sabathia and Hughes.
"There's no doubt about it," he said. And he thinks the only way that he can combat falling victim to the same problem is by fighting his way through the early innings unscathed.