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| Nick Swisher reacts after hitting a solo shot in the 3rd inning Friday night against the Mets. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images) |
The Yankees were able to jump on Johan Santana early on Friday when they defeated the Mets 9-1. Hiroki Kuroda had a no-hit bid going into the 6th inning, but lost it when he gave up a single to the shortstop, Omar Quintanilla. Kuroda exited the game after the 7th inning after he was hit on his left foot with a line drive. He is listed with a contusion in his left foot as x-rays were negative.
Kuroda allowed 1 hit in 7 innings of shutout ball. He struck out 7 and walked 1. When he was relived in the 8th inning by Cody Eppley, Kuroda had a pitch count of 96. He had 52 strikes and 44 balls.
Kuroda told reporters after the game that his foot feels better and he wanted to go out for the 8th inning. The trainer convinced him to rest it. He says that he can make his next start.
Joe Girardi was asked during his post-game press conference if Hiroki Kuroda would have came out of the game before after the 7th inning if he did not get hit on his left foot. He responded with "absolutely."
The Yankees offense was powered by the home runs today. Robinson Cano hit a 2-run shot to right field in the 2nd inning. The Yankees were far from done though.
In the 3rd inning, Robinson Cano hit his 2nd home run of the game. It was anohter 2-run shot to right field off of Santana. Nick Swisher was next and he also hit a home run off of Santana. It was a solo shot to left field. The Yankees had one more left in them though. Andruw Jones secured the back-to-back-to-back home runs off of Johan Santana. Jones hammered a 2-2 pitch down the left field line to increase their lead to 6-0.
The Yankees would add some more runs in the 7th inning. Curtis Granderson started the inning off with a walk and then Mark Teixeira would double him to 3rd. Alex Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 7-0. Two batters later, Nick Swisher would hit a ground rule double to score Mark Teixeira to 3rd after a Robinson Cano ground ball was able to move him over. The score was 8-0 with Andruw Jones coming up and Jones singled to left field to drive in Nick Swisher. The Yankees had taken a commanding 9-0 lead. The inning would finally end when Raul Ibanez popped up to shortstop in shallow left center field.
The Mets would get their only run in the 9th inning on a 2 out double to left field by Lucas Duda.
The Yankees and Mets will play game 2 tomorrow night. Phil Hughes takes the mound after coming off of an impressive start in Detroit on Sunday.
