Yankees To Start Hughes vs. Red Sox
NEW YORK (AP) Struggling to secure a playoff spot, the New York Yankees have changed course again and will start Phil Hughes against Boston in the finale of their weekend series.
Hughes will pitch in place of Dustin Moseley on Sunday night as the Yankees try to avoid a three-game sweep.
Hughes originally was scheduled to pitch Sunday night, then was pushed back to Wednesday in Toronto, with the Yankees saying the move was part of their plan to limit the right-hander's innings in his first full season as a major league starter.
But after dropping the first two games of their series with the Red Sox, the Yankees announced Sunday that they were switching back to Hughes, who is 17-8 with a 4.31 ERA in 169 1-3 innings.
New York had lost four straight going into Sunday, keeping its magic number at three for clinching a postseason berth. The Yankees began the day 1 1/2 games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East and 5 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox in the wild-card race.
Entering Sunday, New York had seven games remaining, while Boston had eight. The teams finish the regular season with three games against each other at Fenway Park next weekend.
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