Phil Hughes Stat To Watch
One of the reasons Hughes has pitched at least a little bit better of late has been his ability to wiggle out of trouble. Opponents are 2-for-16 against Hughes with runners in scoring position over his last three starts.

The other thing to watch will be how Hughes handles the Royals left-handed hitters, such as Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas. Lefties are hitting only .221 against Hughes, though they’ve slugged .421 because nine of their 21 hits have been for extra-bases.

Hughes has allowed a homer in each of his first eight starts this season. The last Yankee to allow a homer in nine straight starts was Andy Pettitte, who had a nine-start streak spanning 1999 and 2000.

Slap on the RISP
The Yankees are 6-for-their-last-72 with 19 strikeouts with runners in scoring position over the last nine games

Further breakdown shows that the Yankees batted ball breakdown in such situations is 30-19-5 (30 ground balls, 19 fly balls, and only five line drives), giving them a line drive rate of about half of what you would expect it to be.

That said, this may be the day the Yankees play statistical catch-up. Of the 37 balls hit against tonight’s Royals starter, Luke Hochevar, with runners in scoring position, 14 of them (38 percent) have been line drives.

The Yankees are also due to crush a mistake pitch in such a situation. They are 0-for-their-last-10 with runners in scoring position against what our pitch-tracking software labels “middle-middle” pitches (in other words, those right over the heart of the plate).

Hochevar gave up seven runs in 2 1/3 innings in his only start against the Yankees this season.

Jeter Watch
Derek Jeter is 0-for-May with runners in scoring position, as in 0-for-his-last-13. His biggest issue has been getting the ball out of the infield. Of his 13 outs, nine are infield ground outs and one is an infield line out.

Jeter has seen 56 pitches over 15 plate appearances with a runner in scoring position this month, and half of them have been on the inner-third of the plate, or closer to him. Seven of the 13 outs have come on inside pitches.

The Butler Did It
Royals DH Billy Butler has been a royal pain to the Yankees over the last several seasons. He’s hitting .345 against them since 2009, including three hits in Monday’s win.

The key for the Yankees is getting Butler to go after the outside pitch. He’s only swung at 30 percent of pitches they’ve thrown on the outer-third or further away from him. He’s 4-for-31 against such pitches from the Yankees in this span, but 25-for-53 against everything else.

Monday’s game epitomized the waiting game that Butler plays. He saw 13 outside pitches but only swung at two (he grounded out on one). Butler’s three hits came against an inside pitch, and two over the middle-third.