Cano hits grand slam, Hughes sharp in 8-2 win over Indians

All it took was a visit from the Cleveland Indians to make everything seem OK in the Bronx.

Righthander Phil Hughes got back on track, Nick Swisher continued his torrid May hitting, newly activated centerfielder Curtis Granderson showed he's still got it at the plate and on the bases, and Robinson Cano . . . well, he looked like the old Robinson Cano.

Hughes held the Indians to two runs and five hits in seven innings and Cano hit a grand slam into the second deck in rightfield in the seventh as the Yankees earned an 8-2 win at the Stadium in front of 44,634.

Cano - who batted cleanup (for the first time in his career) in place of Alex Rodriguez, who got the night off - had three hits, including his 10th home run, to lift his average to .351.

Unlike his most recent start, in which he gave up four earned runs and a season-high eight hits in 52/3 innings in a 5-3 loss to the Mets, Hughes (6-1, 2.70 ERA) looked sharp. He struck out the first five batters he faced and retired the first eight before Jason Donald doubled with two outs in the third.

With the Yankees up 2-0, courtesy of a two-run homer by Nick Swisher off the rightfield foul pole, Hughes allowed Jhonny Peralta's two-out RBI double in the fourth. After the Yankees tacked on two more runs in the sixth, Russell Branyan homered in the seventh to make it 4-2. But Mark Teixeira made a diving stop on a sharply hit grounder by Donald and flipped the ball to Hughes for the final out.

Hughes struck out eight, walked one and threw 109 pitches, 76 for strikes. "I think that inning where I got out of trouble was the main one," he said when asked about the difference between Friday's start and his previous two against Boston and the Mets. "The last couple outings, with two outs, I had struggled to put the inning away and put guys away."

Cano broke open the game with his third career grand slam - his first since Sept. 28, 2009, against Kansas City - on the first pitch (a slider) he saw from lefthanded reliever Tony Sipp in the seventh. "It's always good to taste and feel what it feels like to be a career hitter one day," Cano said with a smile. "It feels great."

Granderson, who missed 24 games because of a left groin strain, went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk in the No. 2 hole and flashed his speed on the basepaths and in centerfield.

"We can drill everything we want - we've done sprints, we've done the bases, we've done the balls in the gap - but it's not game-like intensity," Granderson said after the game. "The fact that I've gotten in game situations both here and in the minor leagues was definitely a good thing. I felt that today was a good day across the board with everything and hopefully [my body] will respond tomorrow."

Swisher, who hit his ninth homer of the season off starting pitcher Fausto Carmona (4-3, 3.69 ERA), is batting .351 (27-for-77) with 18 runs, seven home runs and 16 RBIs in 22 games in May.

The Indians (17-29) have lost nine of 11. Friday's game was the first of a seven-game homestand for the Yankees, who began a 16-game stretch in which they will face opponents with a .397 combined winning percentage (75-114) entering Friday night's action.