Bronx, NY – Ivan Nova recorded the second shutout of his career and the New York Yankees handled the San Francisco Giants, 6-0, in the second test of a three-game series.
Nova (9-5) gave up six hits while striking out seven for the Yankees, who are three games behind the Indians for the second wild card spot in the AL. The right-hander also threw a shutout on Aug. 31 against the Orioles.
"Every time you go out there, you hope to have a good game," said Nova, who logged his third career complete game. "If you have a complete game, it's a great feeling, especially for the time that we are in."
Eduardo Nunez and Alfonso Soriano homered for New York, which has won the first two games of this series.
Ryan Vogelsong (3-6) allowed five runs on five hits over five innings for the Giants, who went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven.
The Giants left a runner on second in the second inning. Pablo Sandoval hit a one-out double to right-center field before Nova retired Hector Sanchez and Brandon Crawford.
The Yankees scored all the runs they needed in the third. Mark Reynolds led off with a bloop single to left, Brendan Ryan singled to left-center field and Chris Stewart walked to load the bases. Ichiro Suzuki followed with a sacrifice fly that left runners on second and third. Alex Rodriguez's RBI groundout and Robinson Cano's run-scoring single to left-center field made it 3-0.
"He got off to a good start, but then [Vogelsong] makes a few bad pitches and we get behind," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "They put up a crooked number and he was just off today."
In the fourth, San Francisco got a leadoff double from Brandon Belt. Once again, Nova settled down and retired the next three batters to keep the Giants off the board.
Nunez clubbed a two-run homer to left in the bottom half to make it a 5-0 contest, one batter after Curtis Granderson led off with a single.
Soriano added a solo homer in the sixth, giving him 17 homers and 50 RBI in 52 games since joining the Yankees in a late July trade. He also hit 17 homers in 93 games with the Cubs earlier in the season.
San Francisco did not advance a runner past first over the final five innings.
Game Notes
The Yankees went 1-for-5 with RISP and stranded four ... New York pitcher Andy Pettitte, who announced Friday that he will retire following the 2013 season, will make his final home start on Sunday.
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