Mussina Records 2,500th Strikeout As Yankees Squeak Past Marlins
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Mike Mussina mulled over the number for a while: 2,500 strikeouts. And the Yankees’ ace, always the thinking man’s pitcher, decided it was pretty impressive .
“It’s nice,” he said. “I know not a lot of people have done it.”
Mussina became the 28th pitcher to reach the milestone, but he seemed more pleased with pitching seven strong innings yesterday for a 2-1 victory over Dontrelle Willis and the Florida Marlins in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
“When you’re up against a pitcher like Dontrelle, you know he’s up for the game,” Mussina said. “When you know the other guy is pitching the way he has been, runs are going to be at a premium. We both pitched well. It was the kind of game you expect with two quality pitchers.”
Mussina and Willis dueled on even terms until Johnny Damon’s upperdeck home run in the seventh broke a 1-1 tie and gave Mussina his 233rd career victory.
The win was significant to the righthander because he had struggled lately.
“It was a lot of work,” Mussina said. “I made some good pitches against guys who’ve never seen me before. It was a lot better than it’s been for the last two weeks. I was pleased.”
Damon’s sacrifice fly drove in the Yankees’ first run and the Marlins tied it in the sixth on an RBI single by Miguel Cabrera. With Mussina at 105 pitches, the seventh inning was his last. He fanned Cody Ross for his sixth strikeout of the game and No. 2,500.
Earlier, Mussina struck out Hanley Ramirez in the fourth, and Yankees coach Lee Mazzilli called for the ball.
“I told him, ‘We need six, that’s only five,'” Mussina said. “It took me three more innings to get to six.”
The Mussina-Willis matchup lived up to its billing. Willis (4-7) allowed seven hits in his third complete game this season and the 14th of his career. He struck out six and walked three.
The pitch that beat him was Damon’s 11th home run of the season.
“It was a slider,” Willis said. “It was just bad location and he just squared it up.”
Damon drove a 2-1 pitch from Willis into the right-field upper deck. That made a winner of Mussina (9-3), who allowed five hits over seven innings.
The Yankees won their fourth in a row and handed the young Marlins their second straight loss. Florida has dropped only three of its last 13.
