Yankees Split Double Header In Cleveland

For much of the day runs were at a premium in Cleveland for both the Yankees and the Indians, as the teams sped through an afternoon double header at Progressive Field.

The opener belonged to Justin Masterson, who threw a complete game four hit shutout to out-duel David Phelps for a 1-0 win. Phelps gave up a home run to Jason Kipnis in the bottom of the 1st before settling in for a solid start of 6.2 innings. Masterson improved to 6-2 on the season with a 3.14 ERA, padding his resume as an early contender for the American League Cy Young.

The Yanks kicked off the second game with a run in the first on a Vernon Wells ground out that plated Jayson Nix. The 1-0 lead lasted until the top of the seventh when the Yankee bats finally came to life, in a big way. Corban Joseph led off the inning with his first major league hit, a hustling double to left field. Corban was driven home by Austin Romine, who doubled and later scored on a single by Jayson Nix. Vernon Wells then singled to bring home Brett Gardner, who had walked, and Overbay followed that up with a double to the wall that drove in both Nix and Wells. Finally, Lyle Overbay trotted home on a throwing error by third baseman Mark Reynolds, which would have ended the inning. In total the Yankees rallied for six runs, blowing the game open 7-0.

Not to be lost in excitement of the 7^th was an extremely impressive pitching performance by Vidal Nuno and the Yankees bullpen. Nuno threw five scoreless innings for his first win of the season, before passing the ball to a lights out Adam Warren, who added the final four scoreless frames.