65 Phil Hughes, SP

Yankees starting pitcher Phil Hughes continued his rollercoaster season Wednesday against the Mariners after not making it out of the first inning. After a 1.93 ERA over a four-start stretch from April 18-May 4, Hughes has an 18.47 ERA in his last two starts.

"I feel like I’ve (been able to grind with bad stuff) sometimes," Hughes said to The Journal News. "But there are other nights where it feels like everything you do is not working and not happening. That’s where nights like this happen. Hopefully this is a 1-in-100 type thing. I remember I’ve had bad nights where I’d get 12 outs or something, but I don’t think I can remember having an outing like this before. It’s tough to swallow, but it happens to everybody. No one’s going to feel sorry for you, so I have to throw my bullpen in two days and move on."

Hughes added he will sit down with pitching coach Larry Rothschild and try to figure out where to go from here.

"I’d like to just get back to three starts ago, not really worry about what was bad about this one or what was bad about that one," he said. "Just clear my head of these last two and go forward, really get back to what I was doing."

Yankees starter Phil Hughes didn't stick around very long on Wednesday night at home against Seattle. Hughes pitched poorly, lasting just two outs into the first inning in a 12-2 defeat.

Hughes threw 36 pitches -- 23 strikes -- and surrendered seven earned runs on six hits -- including a grand slam by former teammate Raul Ibanez -- before being lifted in favor of Preston Claiborne.

The 26-year-old walked two and did not strike out a batter as he fell to 2-3 with his ERA growing to 5.88. Hughes had won two straight starts entering Wednesday, but has given up 13 earned runs over his last two outings spanning just 6 1/3 innings.

Hughes will have to turn things around again in a hurry after his ERA rose above 5.00. With an ugly WHIP of 1.55 and a .314 batting average against, Hughes has really struggled to begin the year. His next scheduled start comes Monday at Baltimore.

Yankees starting pitcher Phil Hughes was hit hard but managed to escape with his second win of the season during Friday's series opener against the Royals.

Hughes, who made his seventh start of the season, served up a three-run home run to Jarrod Dyson in the third and a solo home run to Mike Moustakas in the sixth. The right-hander was charged with six runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings of work. He also struck out three and walked two in 98 pitches, 70 for strikes.

Hughes was 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA before Friday's outing. He will try to bounce back Tuesday at home against Seattle. He is 3-2 with a 3.06 ERA in his last five starts against the Mariners.

After years of disappointing, Yankees starting pitcher Phil Hughes is finally starting to live up to expectations through his first six starts. But has the 26-year-old turned the corner?

Hughes is still allowing way too many flyballs, which helps explain his ugly 1.29 home runs per nine innings. At this point in his career, we just have to expect that Hughes is what he is -- his fastball has some zip to it, but very little sink, so when hitters make contact, it tends to fly out of the yard. Four of his five home runs allowed have come on that fastball so far this season. Luckily, he is bring more swing and miss to his game to compensate.

Hughes has a 9.1 percent swinging strike rate, his best mark since 2009. Hughes' fastball and slider account for 91.7 percent of his swinging strikes, a good sign for a guy who relies so heavily on those two pitches. His 8.74 K/9 and 1.80 BB/9, both of which are career bests, go a long way to explaining his 3.60 ERA, despite an ugly and unsustainable .343 batting average on balls in play.

Hughes' inability to prevent home runs will always be a source of consternation while pitching at Yankee Stadium, but Hughes looks like a better pitcher than ever right now. I would avoid him against particularly homer-prone lineups at home, but otherwise Hughes is starting to look like a pretty good Fantasy option.