NEW YORK -- New York Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova obliged the appreciative crowd of 40,785 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, looking skyward as he pounded his glove while walking toward the dugout.

“Damaso [Marte] told me when the fans [cheer] that you do something,” said Nova, who left to raucous applause after giving up just one run over a career-high 6 1/3 innings. “I said, ‘I didn’t know that.’ That’s the first time that’s happened to me, so it’s something special.”

There weren’t any Yankees smiling in the clubhouse after the Chicago White Sox came back on enigmatic setup man Rafael Soriano and beat them, 3-2, but you couldn’t wipe the wide-eyed grin off Nova’s face if you tried.

“I’m really happy,” said Nova (1-2, 5.82 ERA), who picked up a no-decision after throwing a career-high 92 pitches, 54 of which for strikes. “I was having some mechanical problems with my throwing arm, just trying to stay closed. And I think that’s why I commanded my pitches better. My curveball was really good today.”

The 24-year-old Nova had been waiting 11 days to make this start. Many thought his spot in the rotation might be on the line had he performed poorly. Veteran Kevin Millwood, who had been throwing in the mid-80s down in the minors, would’ve been the likely replacement.

But to everyone’s surprise, Nova rose to the occasion, delivering a memorable outing that might just go a long way toward alleviating some of the organization's pitching concerns -- at least in the short-term.

“I wasn’t worried about that,” said Nova of being moved to the bullpen. “I was focused and confident. I was more aggressive throwing strikes and going right after hitters. And when you do that, that’s why you have success.”

Nova hadn’t had much success in his previous three outings. After going six strong innings in his 2011 debut, Nova had given up nine earned runs over a combined 8 2/3 innings in his next two starts. He even walked a career-high five batters on Apr. 15, prompting manager Joe Girardi to skip him in the rotation.

Nova made one appearance out of the ‘pen before Tuesday night’s start, but that didn’t go well either, as he gave up a run in 2/3 of an inning on Apr. 19 in Toronto. Yet Girardi never lost faith in his young hurler, figuring he could turn it around.

“My expectation is he’s going to pitch well tonight, like I know he’s capable of doing,” Girardi said before the game. “He hasn’t started in 11 days. He’s had a little work out of the bullpen, and we are aware of that. But we need to get this guy going. He’s important to us.”

Nova got going by working with pitching coach Larry Rothschild on slowing down his arm motion on his delivery, which allowed him to stay closed and control his pitches better. Nova’s curveball hadn’t been very effective in his first four appearances, but it certainly was on Tuesday night.

And that made all the difference.

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Nova threw a career-high 30 curveballs. The White Sox wound up going 0-for-8 on at-bats ending in curveballs, and all three of Nova’s strikeouts came via the breaking ball. White Sox batters swung at 10 curves and missed on four of those swings. Nova also had eight called strikes on curveballs.

“Today I decided to go more with my curveball than my slider,” Nova said. “And it was really working. When you can command your pitches and you can control your pitches, it feels really good.”

“We had talked about how he’d struggled throwing strikes with his curveball, and he was able to do that all night,” Girardi said. “He was more consistent with his fastball and pitching on 11 days rest, that’s a good sign, because his command came back.”

Nova credited his turnaround on the mound to his resiliency.

“I never give up,” Nova said. I had a couple bad starts but I always kept my head up and I think that’s why I pitched so good today. I never gave up.”

The Yankees won’t give up on Nova either -- as long as he keeps this up.

“Like I said, I just wanna do my job,” Nova said. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, if something happens, but my mind was on doing my job and not thinking about anything else.”