Mazone, two relievers shut down Yankees

With the way he's pitched since the first few weeks of the season, one might have expected Mike Zagurski to ask "What about me?" when the Phillies summoned his good buddy Scolt Mathieson to New York after placing Antonio Bastardo on the disabled list.

But after continuing his spectacular run by nailing down a 2-0 win over Scranton/Wlikes-Barre Thursday night for Brian Mazone and the IronPigs, the left-hander said those thoughts never crossed his mind.

"I've still got a few things I need to work on," Zagurski said after getting a superb defensive play from first baseman Neil Sellers and recording two more strikeouts for the first Triple-A save of his career. "I have been pitching significantly better than I was at the start of the season but Scott's thrown the ball good all year. He's got lefties out, he's got righties out. I think I'm making progress in the right direction so hopefully at some point here if they need me, I'll be available and what they're looking for."

Andy Tracy's two-run homer in the third inning provided the only offense of the night for either team as the IronPigs (26-40) won a series opener for the second straight time after losing its previous seven openers.

Zagurski, who has not allowed an earned run since April 30 and hasn't allowed a run in his last 10 outings, pointed to Colin Curtis' at-bat leading off the ninth. After getting a quick strike he missed on three fastballs, then got a big boost from Sellers when the first baseman made a diving stop of Curtis' smash behind the bag, then scrambled for the unassisted putout.

"The command's still not there, as you saw tonight," Zagurski said. "I threw a first-pitch strike and then missed poorly with three fastballs to a lefthander, and I've got to get away from doing that. So it's some little things."

Zagurski followed Oscar Villarreal, who allowed a hit and struck out three in two scoreless innings. But the real story was Mazone (4-6), who allowed just three baserunners in six brilliant innings.

The veteran left-hander put down the first 10 Yankees he faced until Curtis doubled to right center, the first ball hit by Scranton out of the infield. He then retired the next six batters until a one-out walk to Greg Golson and a bunt single put him in a jam in the sixth.

But Curtis lined sharply to John Mayberry Jr. in right, and shortstop Brian Bocock got Mazone out of the inning unscathed by ranging behind the second base bag to flag down Eduardo Nunez's bouncer, then making a back-handed flip to Melvin Dorta for the inning-ending force at second.

It was one of several outstanding defensive plays by Bocock and the IronPigs defense behind Mazone, who struck out six.

"I couldn't put it together in the ''pen but was able to come in and put it all together," said Mazone, who got his first win since May 16 at Gwinnett. "I've pitched well as of lately but just came up short as far as wins were concerned."

"He's given us some other good solid outings but we haven't scored him a lot of runs or we give up his wins late in the ballgame," ironPigs manager Dave Huppert said.

Mazone said he kept the Yankees (38-29) off-stride by "working ahead, changing speeds and trying to get them out differently every time.

"Dane did a good job of that," he said, referring to catcher Dane Sardinha.

Tracy followed John Mayberry Jr.'s one-out double in the third off the wall in right with his 10th homer, a towering shot to right center. It was Tracy's seventh homer in 21 games since coming off the disabled list on May 27 and saved the IronPigs from coming up empty in a game in which they loaded the bases three times against the Yankees but failed turn any of those opportunities into runs.

"Tracy did what Tracy does, and that's get big hits and drive in runs," Zagurski said.

The IronPigs finished 1-for-7 with runner's in scoring posltion, the lone hit Tracy's home run.

"Our whole thing is, we've got to drive in runs," Huppert said. "That's what it all comes down to. Our whole year has been not driving in runs. You can't have that many one-run losses [20] and say you've been driving in runs."

""A win's a win; there ain't nothing frustrating about any win," Huppert addded. "It's nice to get a win against [Scranton] anytime. The last two years we haven't fared very well against them."