It appears that when your ticket to Scranton or the bullpen is in the works, you pitch your best. Ivan Nova entered tonight’s game with uncertainty regarding his next start. With the effectiveness of most of the starting pitchers in the Yankees current rotation & Phil Hughes announced to start on Tuesday, Nova did not know if his next start will be with the New York Yankees or the minor-league Scranton Yankees. With that idea up in the air, Nova set a career-high in strikeouts.
With the Yankees taking 3 games in the South side of Chicago, Ivan Nova took the mound and pitched 7.2 innings of 1-run baseball. His career-high in strikeouts entering tonight’s game was 7 and he went by that easily as he struck out 10 White Sox with a sharp biting slider.
Unlike the previous, high-scoring assault by the Yankees, tonight was about manufacturing runs (and a long ball here and there). Robinson Cano continues his hot hitting as he scored twice and hit a solo home run the opposite way. Russell Martin put on late-inning runs to ensure the victory with a monster home run off of former Yankee Brian Bruney.
With the Yankees victory and the Red Sox loss to the Cleveland Indians tonight, the lead for the AL East is tied at 68-42 as the Yankees head into Boston for what should be an intense series (like all of the games usually are).
Ryan Nakada
@adakannayr
