That’s kind of the headline that Yankees fans feared. I guess it could be worse; it could be 12 pitches, or it could be 27 pitches and nine strikeouts. But no runners the first time through the order, combined with a modicum of pitches thrown, is pretty much the worst-case scenario for a game against Verlander. You know he’s good for 130 tonight, and that would be around the 12th inning at this pace.
After 33 pitches, Verlander perfect through 3
The good news is that Phil Hughes is matching Verlander inning for scoreless inning, albeit not quite with the same grace. Hughes allowed just a single through the first two innings, but he got in a little trouble in the bottom of the third. With one out, Austin Jackson hit a single to right. Quintin Berry bunted him over for the second out of the inning, which is ... kind of bizarre. It was one of those quasi-sacrifices, though, where he was trying for a hit at the same time, so it wasn’t that bizarre.
What it did was take the bat out of the hands of Miguel Cabrera, whom Hughes walked. And on a 3-0 count Prince Fielder ripped a pitch, but it was right at Curtis Granderson. Threat over. Game scoreless.
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