Andy Pettitte continues to make strides in his return from a fractured left leg, following up his scoreless start last Wednesday with another stellar effort.
The left-hander shut out the Minnesota Twins for six innings Monday, leading the New York Yankees to a 6-3 win at Target Field. After being staked to a 3-0 lead in the first, Pettitte loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning before working out of the jam without allowing the Twins to score.
“After we scored three in the first, to be able to get out of that first without giving up a run was really important,” Pettitte said. “You know the situation, but you keep it simple.”
Pettitte never faced another major jam during his outing, getting some assistance from Curtis Granderson in the fourth when the center fielder threw out Ryan Doumit at the plate as the Minnesota catcher tried to score from second on Jamey Carroll’s single.
Pettitte gave up seven hits and walked one, striking out three as he improved to 5-3. He hinted that his stamina in the fifth and sixth was still not where he had hoped it would be, but with one more regular-season start remaining before the postseason, the 40-year-old knows that he has only one more opportunity to get tuned up for October.
“Obviously I’m a work in progress right now,” Pettitte said. “I would love to see my stuff get back to where it was, so, there’s some stuff I still need to work on and get some reps in my bullpens and stuff like that. But it was good to be able to stay out of the middle of zone, make some big pitches and get some big outs when I needed it. Hopefully we can continue to do that and help this team win.”