Nova dominates; Yankees tie Red Sox
CHICAGO -- Inexplicably, the Yankees are 1-8 against the Red Sox this season.
Almost as inexplicably, they'll start a three-game series Friday night at Fenway Park tied for first.
Ivan Nova, who has done nothing to lose his spot in the rotation but probably will, pitched a gem in leading the Yankees to their seventh straight win, this one a 7-2 victory over the White Sox Thursday night in front of 28,088 at U.S. Cellular Field.
The victory completed a four-game sweep and sent the Yankees to Fenway at 68-42, same as the Red Sox, who lost to visiting Cleveland, 7-3.
Nova (10-4, 3.81) went 72/3 innings, allowing one run, six hits and no walks and striking out a career-best 10. He is unbeaten in his last six decisions and, even with the almost four weeks he spent with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after Phil Hughes was activated, is tied for second on the staff in victories.
With the Yankees unlikely to stick with a six-man rotation beyond this week -- and with Joe Girardi having said that Hughes (who was outstanding Tuesday) and A.J. Burnett (who was decidedly not outstanding Wednesday) will take their next turns -- that leaves Nova to be sent to the bullpen or to Triple-A. Those would be the only options should Girardi not continue with a six-man rotation.
Armed with that knowledge, Nova dominated the White Sox before David Robertson picked up the last out in the eighth. Adam Dunn homered off Hector Noesi in the ninth, but the Yankees pitching staff extended its streak to 39 innings without a walk.
Russell Martin hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a three-run homer in the ninth to account for the Yankees' final four runs. They had eight hits, two each by Robinson Cano, who hit his 18th homer in the second, and Eric Chavez.
If Nova felt discouraged about the possibility of this being his last start for a while, it didn't show. If he felt pressure, that didn't show, either.
"The thing you have to worry about is your job," Nova said Wednesday. "If you don't do your job, bad things are going to happen. I know there's a lot of decisions that have to be made, but I have to stay focused and do my job."
Nova did, which has been the case most of this season.
Outside of April, when he went 1-2 with a 5.82 ERA, he has pitched well. He went 3-1 with a 3.90 ERA in May, 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA in June and 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in July. But he was sent down July 3 to make room for Hughes and didn't pitch again for the Yankees until last Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader against Baltimore.
Nova's last defeat came June 3 at Anaheim, and even then he wasn't bad, allowing two earned runs in six innings in a 3-2 loss.
Nova has held opponents to two or fewer earned runs in nine of his 17 starts.
Asked about the Hughes/Nova situation all week, Girardi has not tipped his hand, saying only that he hoped both righthanders pitched well and made the Yankees' decision a tough one.
"We'll have to make some decisions after we go through the rotation this week," Girardi said. "If they both throw the ball the way we want them to, then the decision's going to be difficult on what we do. Do you put one in the bullpen or keep one going as a starter knowing we have another split doubleheader coming up ? You have to prepare for those things, too."
A possible scenario is Nova being sent back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to stay on turn so he could start one of the doubleheader games in Baltimore. If the Yankees decided to put Nova in the bullpen, that likely would open the door for one of the organization's highly regarded minor-leaguers, such as Adam Warren, to start in Baltimore.
"I always say, the big leagues are the big leagues. Nobody wants to be in the minor leagues," Nova said. "If they think they need me in the bullpen, I go to the bullpen. I'm not saying I want to go there, but if that's the decision they make, that's what I have to do."
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