Injury Ends Hughes' No-Hit Bid For Yanks

Wednesday, May 2nd 2007, 7:33 am

By: News On 6

With one painful pitch, Phil Hughes went from a no-hit bid to a stint on the disabled list. Just when the New York Yankees appeared to find a new starter, they lost him to yet another injury.

Vladimir Guerrero is healthy, however, and he's leading the Los Angeles Angels on an early season surge.

Hughes was working on a no-hitter in the seventh inning of his second major league start when a pulled hamstring cost him a chance to make history in Texas.

``It was going to happen,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said. ``That was the sense in the dugout.''

New York's prized prospect is expected to miss four to six weeks, a sour end to an otherwise encouraging night for the last-place club. The Bronx Bombers responded to criticism from owner George Steinbrenner in a big way Tuesday with a 10-1 rout of the Rangers.

Hank Blalock hit a leadoff double against reliever Mike Myers in the eighth for Texas' first hit, not long after Hughes became the latest Yankees pitcher to get hurt.

Mike Mussina (hamstring), Carl Pavano (forearm) and Jeff Karstens (broken right leg) are on the disabled list. Chien-Ming Wang also missed the first three weeks of the season with a hamstring injury.

``It's been frustrating,'' general manager Brian Cashman said. ``We seem to be getting hit every day.''

The Angels seem to be getting big swings from Guerrero every day. The 2004 AL MVP hit a long grand slam off Zack Greinke (1-3) in the first inning and Los Angeles won 7-5 at Kansas City for its 10th victory in 12 games.

Guerrero is batting .365 with eight homers and 27 RBIs. Told the Royals estimated his fifth career slam at 435 feet, Angels manager Mike Scioscia merely laughed.

``Were they measuring the height of it?'' he said. ``If that ball wasn't 550, I don't know what it was. That ball was crushed.''

In other AL games, it was: Oakland 5, Boston 4 in 10 innings; Detroit 5, Baltimore 4; Cleveland 12, Toronto 4; Minnesota 9, Tampa Bay 1; and Seattle 5, Chicago 2.

Bartolo Colon (3-0) gave up nine hits and five runs in five innings for Los Angeles, increasing his ERA from 1.93 to 3.79. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save.

Gary Matthews Jr. had four hits and scored three runs for the Angels, who have won 15 of their last 17 at Kauffman Stadium. Scioscia tied Bill Rigney's record for most wins by an Angels manager with 625.

At Arlington, Texas, Hughes (1-1) was cruising along in a dominant performance when he winced and grabbed the back of his left thigh after throwing an 0-2 curveball to Mark Teixeira with one out in the seventh. Hughes, who said he felt a pop, was removed after 83 pitches with a 9-0 lead.

``I was kind of flustered,'' he said. ``It was one of those unfortunate circumstances, and there's not much you can do about it.''

The 20-year-old right-hander, considered one of the top prospects in baseball, was called up from Triple-A Scranton to fill a spot in New York's depleted rotation. The Yankees (10-14) won for only the second time in 10 games, but Hughes' injury put a damper on the blowout.

New York's awful April, which included a 1-5 record against rival Boston, roused Steinbrenner to issue his first public remarks of the season Monday, at once throwing his support behind Torre and rebuking the $195 million team for its record.

Steinbrenner's comments seemed to spur the Yankees to their most lopsided win of the season. Robinson Cano broke out of a 1-for-18 slump by going 4-for-5 with three RBIs. Jorge Posada had three hits, three runs and two RBIs. Alex Rodriguez added three hits to raise his batting average to .371.

The Yankees roughed up Kameron Loe (1-2) and took advantage of three Texas errors. Myers and Luis Vizcaino completed the two-hitter.

Indians 12, Blue Jays 4

At Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia (4-0) was rocked for three homers in the first inning, then buckled down to beat A.J. Burnett (2-2) and help the Indians win for the eighth time in nine games.

Jhonny Peralta had a career-high five RBIs as Cleveland scored nine consecutive runs. Peralta, Travis Hafner and Trot Nixon homered for the Indians.

Athletics 5, Red Sox 4, 10 innings

At Boston, Travis Buck hit a two-run homer to tie it in the ninth against Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who had his first blown save in nine chances this season. Oakland scored the go-ahead run in the 10th off Brendan Donnelly (0-1) on consecutive doubles by Mike Piazza and Dan Johnson. Huston Street earned his seventh save. Boston wasted the latest strong performance by Curt Schilling.

Tigers 5, Orioles 4

At Detroit, pinch-hitter Sean Casey hit a tiebreaking single off Danys Baez (0-1) in the eighth. Craig Monroe homered and Placido Polanco had four hits with two RBIs. Todd Jones got his ninth save in 11 chances.

Twins 9, Devil Rays 1

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Sidney Ponson (2-3) pitched seven impressive innings to beat Tampa Bay for the second time this season and Michael Cuddyer drove in two runs before leaving with a bruised back. Joe Mauer, Luis Castillo and Jason Tyner each had three of Minnesota's 17 hits.

Mariners 5, White Sox 2

At Seattle, Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer and Jarrod Washburn (2-2) tossed seven innings in his second consecutive strong start. He beat Javier Vazquez (2-1) to lead the Mariners to their sixth victory in seven games. Raul Ibanez added a two-run single and J.J. Putz got his fourth save.