ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – Phil Hughes was down 2-0 after 10 pitches. A potential replacement started warming up in the bullpen. And, on a day the Twins could ill afford a short outing, Hughes needed 35 pitches to get his first three outs.
"It wasn't exactly the first inning I was hoping for," he said.
Returning to action for the first time since having surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome, Hughes lasted only 3 ⅓ innings Sunday in his first start in 11 months. He gave up two runs on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
"Didn't really give me a chance to go as deep as I would have liked," he said.
He walked leadoff batter Denard Span, then threw a fastball down and in to C.J. Cron. As Kyle Gibson found out Saturday, that is Cron's happy place. The slugger took an easy swing and drove the ball over the left-center field wall for his third two-run homer in two days.
Hughes walked Brad Miller and gave up a single to Daniel Robertson. There was one out. Twins manager Paul Molitor showed little patience and had Trevor Hildenberger warming up. Hughes recovered by striking out Joey Wendle on three pitches, but Jesus Sucre singled to right, and it looked like Molitor was about to make a first-inning pitching change.
But Miller rounded third and pulled up lame about 15 feet from the bag. He couldn't get back before Eduardo Escobar received a throw and tagged him out. Instead of the bases being loaded, Hughes was out of the inning.
"He was kind of able to get back on track and give us at least a little more," Molitor said.