Six-run sixth against Beckett helps Hughes go to 4-0

BOSTON - Regardless of how Javier Vazquez does in his next start, it's difficult to imagine him being pushed ahead of Phil Hughes in the rotation.

Hughes, who started Friday night against the Red Sox at Fenway Park when the Yankees decided to skip the struggling Vazquez, again showed stuff more befitting an ace than a fifth - or even a fourth or third - starter in the Yankees' 10-3 victory over the Red Sox.

But in victory, as was the case earlier in the week during a three-game sweep of the Orioles, the Yankees (20-8) were not able to avoid the injury bug that has become a swarm. Nick Johnson left the game in the fifth because of soreness in his right wrist and Robinson Cano was removed in a crazy six-run sixth after getting hit in the left knee by a Josh Beckett fastball.

Joe Girardi said Johnson will see a hand specialist Saturday in New York and likely is bound for the disabled list. With Cano likely out Saturday, the Yankees probably will call up an infielder from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Girardi said.

"My card's a little short," he said. "My only extra guy today was a guy [Jorge Posada] who has a calf problem."

Said Hughes: "We're thin right now, to say the least. We really had nobody on our bench from like the fifth or sixth inning on."

But the Yankees, winners of five straight and eight of nine, have largely been able to shrug aside their recent injuries because of their starting pitchers.

Hughes held Boston hitless for 31/3 innings and allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings in improving to 4-0 with a 1.69 ERA. The Yankees' top four starters - CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Hughes - have a 16-1 record, a 2.16 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP.

"It's up there," Hughes said of his confidence. "I'm throwing the ball well, I'm just trying to keep it going. Obviously, there's a lot of season ahead of us, but right now I think our whole staff's pitching extremely well."

The Yankees bludgeoned a wild Beckett, knocking him out of the game during a six-run sixth inning in which he hit Cano and Jeter, with the latter HBP drawing shouting from the Yankees' dugout.

But Girardi all but absolved Beckett of nefarious intent - "He just seemed to lose command," Girardi said - and the pitcher himself simply said, "I just had no idea where the ball was going."

The Yankees sent 11 men to the plate in the sixth and scored in six straight at-bats to make it 9-1, picking up four hits, two walks, two hit batsmen and a sacrifice fly along the way.

Beckett (1-1), who retired 10 of the first 11 batters and struck out eight but wound up being booed off the mound, tied his career high by allowing nine runs in 51/3 innings. Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer in the fourth to begin the scoring and Alex Rodriguez, Francisco Cervelli and Randy Winn each had two of the Yankees' 11 hits.

Marcus Thames, who replaced Johnson and likely will be the DH Saturday, had two RBIs and Ramiro Peña, who replaced Cano, collected a hit, two more examples of players stepping forward as frontliners go down.

"It happens to every team every year, so it's kind of hard to sit here and feel sorry for yourself," Jeter said. "Sometimes it takes more than 25 guys to win."