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Hughes, Yankees battle struggling Mariners

Sep 5, 2007 - 3:44 PM Seattle (74-63) at NY Yankees (77-62) 7:05 pm EDT

BRONX, New York (Ticker) - The New York Yankees got back on track against the Seattle Mariners. They hope rookie Phil Hughes can do the same in an important contest.

Hughes and the Yankees aim to take the finale of a crucial three-game series against the Mariners at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night in a battle of the top two clubs in the American League wild card.

After a rousing sweep of the rival Boston Red Sox last week, New York lost two of three to the last-place Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the opener against Seattle, which snapped a nine-game losing streak with the victory on Monday.

But one night later, Yankees staff ace Chien-Ming Wang allowed just one run and five hits in 7 1/3 frames, joining Boston's Josh Beckett as baseball's only 17-game winners in a 12-3 rout of the Mariners.

With the win, the Yankees increased their bulge in the AL wild card race to two games over the sinking Mariners.

Alex Rodriguez belted his major league-leading 46th homer, Jorge Posada added two blasts and Bobby Abreu and Robinson Cano each had four hits for New York, which pounded out 20 hits.

The Yankees hope to give similar offensive support to Hughes (2-3, 5.65 ERA), who has not won since August 10. The highly-touted righthander has been erratic, allowing 10 runs and 11 hits in his last 10 1/3 frames - spanning two starts - while striking out 10 and walking five.

The Mariners will counter with Jarrod Washburn (9-12, 4.37), who had a disastrous outing in his last start. The lefthander gave up six runs and seven hits while walking five without a strikeout in 3 1/3 frames in a 7-5 loss at the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. It was his shortest outing of the season.

Washburn has lost five of his last six starts, but is 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA in two starts against the Yankees this season.