Granderson, Jeter help Yankees beat Nationals 7-2
WASHINGTON — Curtis Granderson drove in three runs, Derek Jeter had two hits and Phil Hughes pitched six innings to win his fourth straight start, and the New York Yankees won their seventh game in a row, beating the Washington Nationals 7-2 on Friday night.
Both teams entered with six-game winning streaks and leading their divisions. For the Nationals, the attention was unusual, the stands were packed, with many rooting for the Yankees.
Hughes (7-5) worked six innings, allowing a run and six hits. He walked two and struck out nine. Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada worked two scoreless innings. David Robertson allowed a run in the ninth.
Gio Gonzalez (8-3) allowed three runs and five hits in six-plus innings, walking two and striking out eight. He is 1-5 against the Yankees and left trailing 2-1 after allowing a leadoff single to Andruw Jones in the seventh.
Against Brad Lidge, pinch-runner Dewayne Wise stole second, Russell Martin walked, and both advanced on Jayson Nix’s sacrifice bunt. Robinson Cano was intentionally walked and Jeter hit a slow grounder to shortstop Ian Desmond.
As Jeter crossed first, Desmond’s throw sailed past first baseman Adam LaRoche. Wise and Martin scored. Michael Gonzalez relieved Lidge and allowed Granderson’s two-run double to make it 6-1.
Granderson hit his 20th home run with one out in the ninth.
The Yankees scored two runs in the third. Jeter doubled with one out. After Mark Teixeira walked with two outs, Alex Rodriguez singled to score Jeter. The RBI was A-Rod’s 1,924th, tying him with Jimmie Foxx for sixth place on the all-time list. Nick Swisher followed with an RBI single.
Steve Lombardozzi and Bryce Harper began the bottom of the third with singles off Hughes. With one out, LaRoche walked to load the bases. Michael Morse’s single scored Lombardozzi.
NOTES: The win was New York manager Joe Girardi’s 500th in the major leagues. ... Robertson made his first appearance after missing a month with a strained oblique muscle. ... Cano did not start. Cano is 0 for 9 against Gonzalez. He had been spiked in the left leg on Tuesday in Atlanta. ... Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain, who dislocated his right ankle bouncing on a trampoline with his son on March 22, said he could face hitters for the first time in about 10 days. ... Washington manager Davey Johnson said that RHP Henry Rodriguez (right index finger), will begin a rehab assignment in a day or two. Rodriguez is eligible to come off the DL on June 21 ... New York LHP Andy Pettitte celebrated his 40th birthday on Friday. He’ll start Saturday against Washington RHP Jordan Zimmermann. ... Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a Yankees fan, chatted on the field with Nationals OF Jayson Werth and Johnson. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, threw out the first pitch.