New York Yankees 2012 regular season review – Part 66
Riding on a six match winning streak, the New York Yankees were feeling very confident about themselves. Joe Girardi and company crushed the Atlanta Braves in their previous three match series. The skipper was expecting his men to continue the good work
in their next series against the Washington National as well.
Showing great composure and mental strength, the Yankees dominated the Nationals in Game 1 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. New York used its resources perfectly in a game that proved to completely one sided 7-2 in favour of the Yankees.
Starting pitcher Phil Hughes played a big part in deciding the outcome of the clash as he allowed just six hits and one run in six solid innings. Striking out nine batters, the right hander created all sorts of problems for Washington’s batting lineup.
"It's one of those things where the first couple of at-bats don't go the way you want them to, you keep your head up and adjust as the game goes on," Granderson said. "If it's not your first at-bat, it's your second, third or fourth at-bat. Never give up
an at-bat."
"We didn't have a ton of opportunities off Gio, but the one inning, we got a couple two-out hits. Then we broke the game open obviously a little later on, but we've been getting important hits," Girardi said.
Relief pitcher Cody Eppley, Clay Rapada and David Robertson also made useful contributions as they combined to give up just one run in three innings and the Yankees held on to their five run lead with ease to secure a deserving victory. Nationals’ starter
Gio Gonzalez had a horrible outing as he allowed five hits in six innings to take his third loss of the season. Reliever Brad Lidge was also unable to stop the flow of runs.
Alex Rodriguez singled to shallow right and Nick Swisher singled to left in the third inning to give Yankees the early 2-0 lead. Derek Jeter reached on infield single and Curtis Granderson smacked a mighty home run in the ninth to ensure his side reach home
safely.
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