Twins' Hughes still not satisfied with stuff

ARLINGTON, Texas – In one sense, the most basic sense, Sunday was a success for Phil Hughes. He limited the Rangers to three runs; the pair of homers he gave up came with nobody on base, and he kept the Twins close enough to pull out a 4-3 victory.

But in another sense, the game was one more in a string of failures for the Twins' Opening Day starter. "I haven't had my stuff all year," Hughes said, "and I'm trying to find ways to get around it."

The numbers confirm it:

• Hughes, always an extreme fly ball pitcher, now leads the American League in home runs allowed; second-inning blasts by Joey Gallo and Leonys Martin were the 14th and 15th of the season, one short of his total for all of 2014.

• He gave up nine hits to the Rangers, bringing his total this season to 102 hits allowed — also the most in the AL.

• His ERA actually fell on Sunday, but at 4.79, it's more than a run higher than last year's 3.52, and it hasn't been below 4.50 all year.

• And Hughes has yet to hold an opponent to fewer than two runs this season; last year, he had 10 such starts, four by this point in the season.

"I'm just trying to barely get by. I can't remember the last time I've had huge swing-and-misses on my fastball," the 28-year-old said. "I've almost gotten away from my four-seamer. I'm trying to throw some two-seamers and get in on the hands of guys and trying to get a quick out because I know I don't have that life, the velocity I'm looking for."

Oh yes, the velocity. Yet another worrisome trend: His average fastball in 2014, according to fangraphs.com, was 92.0 mph, but it's down to 91.1 mph this year. And Sunday's game, according to the stadium speed gun was mostly spent at 88 or 89 mph. That's partly due to a notoriously slow speed gun, Hughes said, but it's partly him, too.

"It's down a little bit. You look up and see 89, and it's like, 'Ugh,' " he said. "But you just have to find a way to make pitches. I can't be concerned with stuff. I just have to have faith in the fact that it'll come back eventually."

It always does, he said. The problem is not mechanical and he's not hurt, Hughes said.

"Sometimes you go through phases where you're not going to have good stuff. Your arm's not going to bounce back the way you prefer," he shrugged. "It goes in cycles. I've been down this way before. It does come back eventually, it's just a matter of how long. It's not fun to go through, because I know I'm not who I can be."

"There's enough limitation there where we're concerned of risk in the short term if we run him out there too soon," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We want to make sure we get it right and not make it a long-term deal."

Hicks was placed on the 15-day disabled list, officially because of a right forearm strain. That opened a roster spot for Byron Buxton, his replacement in center field.

"It bothered me to throw, and to hit a little bit," Hicks said. "We're just going to continue to do treatment, and hopefully it's better in the next week or so."

• Torii Hunter was feeling better Sunday, the final day of his two-game suspension, the Twins said. Hunter met the Twins at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport after the game for the trip to St. Louis.

• Brian Dozier led off the game with a home run, his team-high 13th of the year and the 10th leadoff homer of his career.