Hughes undone by pair of HRs on 0-and-2 pitches

Phil Hughes is far from the biggest question mark in the rotation as the Yankees head into the stretch, but that doesn't mean he isn't a concern.

The 24-year-old had another subpar outing Sunday in a 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays at the Stadium, a defeat that ended the Yankees' winning streak at a season-best eight games.

With the Rays' loss to the Orioles, the Yankees (86-51) still lead the division by 2 ½ games. But a rotation desperate for some consistency, other than that delivered just about every start by CC Sabathia, didn't get it from Hughes (16-7).

He allowed six runs and seven hits, including three homers, in six innings. Hughes gave up only one walk after allowing 10 in 82/3 innings in his previous two starts, but this time he was wild within the strike zone.

Hughes did say he felt better about yesterday's outing than his previous two. Other than a pair of poorly located 0-and-2 pitches that Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill hit for two-run homers, that is. "Two 0-2 pitches cost him the game," Joe Girardi said.

Hughes - who entered the game having held batters to a .130 average on 0-and-2 pitches (7-for-54) - felt the same.

"Basically, the two worst pitches I made of the game," he said. "And this team pounces on mistakes, and that's what they did. I felt like my stuff was better, my location was better than the last two times out, but I just made too many mistakes."

That has been a common occurrence during the second half of the season. Hughes is 5-5 with a 5.47 ERA since the All-Star break after going 11-2 with a 3.65 ERA in the first half and earning a spot in the All-Star Game.

Is he tired? "That's the million-dollar question that I'm probably going to be asked for a while here," Girardi said. "I thought his velocity was better today than it has been in his last couple starts, which makes me think that he feels pretty good. And if he makes a couple of 0-2 pitches, he pitches pretty well."

Hughes, whose previous high in innings was the combined 146 he threw in 2006 for Class A Tampa and Double-A Trenton, has pitched 1551/3 innings this season, but he said he doesn't feel as though fatigue is a factor.

"I feel like my stuff is good. I feel strong when I go out there," he said. "I don't feel like fatigue is really an issue. It's just I've kind of struggled with making pitches and making good pitches in situations where I really need to. I think that's been the biggest problem."

Girardi said before the game that his intent isn't to skip Hughes - who is on an innings limit believed to be in the neighborhood of 175 - the rest of the season. But if that happened the next time the Yankees play the Blue Jays, it wouldn't be the worst thing. Hughes came in 1-1 with a 6.60 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays this season, and he immediately got into trouble.

Hill doubled with one out in the first, but Hughes struck out major league home run leader Jose Bautista with a sharp cutter. on the outside corner. Then Wells fouled off the first two pitches before clubbing a fastball that Hughes said "was supposed to be away" over the centerfield fence for his 24th homer.

Hill's two-run blast in the third came on an 0-and-2 cutter that drifted over the plate. John Buck's first-pitch homer to centerfield with two outs in the sixth, which made it 6-1, also came on a cutter.

Brett Cecil, who came in 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA in three 2010 starts against the Yankees, allowed three runs and seven hits in 61/3 innings. The final run scored on a line-drive single in the seventh by Alex Rodriguez, who went 2-for-5 with his 98th RBI in his return from the disabled list. "I felt pretty good out there," he said.