Yankees vs Twins: Andy Pettitte Tosses 6 Scoreless Innings in 6-3 Victory
September 24, 2012 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Monday night’s game for the Yankees would feature Andy Pettitte‘s second start since coming off the disabled list.
And just like his first start, he did not disappoint his teammates and fans.
Against the Minnesota Twins, Pettitte tossed six shutout innings, allowed no runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out three and picked up the win in a 6-1 Yankees victory.
The victory for Pettitte is his second since coming off the DL and improves his record for 2012 to 5-3 and also lowered his ERA to 2.71.
The 40-year-old lefty threw 88 pitches in the game; 53 of those were for strikes, which is a pretty solid ratio of balls-to-strikes.
In the bottom of the first inning, after Nick Swisher gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead with his two-run home run, Pettitte was shaky getting a rhythm going.
He walked Josh Willingham to load the bases with one out, but he did not panic. Pettitte got Justin Morneau to strike out looking and then got Ryan Doumit to ground out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Joe Mauer singled to set up first and third with one out. Pettitte did not panic and makes the pitches he needs.
Willingham grounded into a double play and just like that, Pettitte was out of trouble.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Jamey Carroll hit a single up the middle, which everyone thought would score Doumit from second.
However, Curtis Granderson got the ball to home plate and Russell Martin tagged Doumit out, not allowing the Twins to put their first run across the board.
That was all the resistance that the Twins would give Pettitte, as he breezed through the fifth and sixth innings, not allowing a single run while scattering the seven hits.
From the way he is pitching, you would have never thought he missed two and a half months with a fractured ankle because Pettitte has just thrown 11 scoreless innings in his first two starts back.
Pettitte got a lot of help from his offense, as Swisher, Granderson, Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez all homered at Target Field.
With the win, the Yankees improve to 89-64 on the season and because the Orioles split a double-header with the Blue Jays, are now 1.5 games up in the A.L. East.
If these last two starts are any indication of what Pettitte will give the Yankees the rest of the month and heading into October, it’s a major positive to a team that needs every bit of help they can get heading into their final games of the season.
But after two starts, Pettitte has looked really good and hopefully for the Yankees, will continue the trend the rest of the way.
Stay tuned, Yankees universe.
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