Let’s take a closer look at the dominant effort from Phil Hughes in the Yankees' win over the Red Sox on Thursday night.

How did Hughes win?

Hughes went to his fastball often vs. the Red Sox, throwing it 71 percent of the time.

He is now 7-2 with a 2.14 ERA in nine starts when he throws at least 70 percent fastballs this season. He is 8-10 with a 4.89 ERA in his other 20 starts.

He recorded 20 outs with his fastball, his second most in any start since the 2009 season.

Hughes threw his fastball at the belt and above on all but 9 pitches and found success. The Red Sox were 1-for-10 with all seven strikeouts in at-bats ending with a pitch above the belt.

All seven of his strikeouts came with his fastball, tied for his second most in any start since 2009.

The Red Sox lefties struggled, getting just two singles. Hughes worked the outer half to lefties, getting eight of his dozen outs on pitches to that area or just off the outside corner.

The Red Sox put three players in scoring position, but Hughes stranded all three, and needed only six pitches to escape those troubles.

Stats of the Day
1. This was the Yankees' first regular season shutout in Fenway Park in September or October since Mike Mussina's near-perfect game (one-hitter) on Sept. 2, 2001.

2. The Yankees were 2-for-34 (.059) in their series with the Red Sox, which they won 2-1. Elias tells us that the last time they had such a low batting average in a series of at least three games (min. 20 AB with RISP) was May 11-13, 1999 vs. the Angels (1-for-23, .043). The Angels swept the series 3-0.

The last time the Yankees had such a low batting average in a series of three or more games (min. 20 AB with RISP) and still won at least two games was April 24-25, 1965 vs. the Angels (1-for-22, .045). The Yankees won the series 2-1.

3. The Yankees clinched their 20th straight non-losing season. That is the longest active streak and the second-longest streak in major league history, trailing only their own 39-year streak from 1926 to 1964.