“He just looked confident,” said catcher Russell Martin, who was not with the team the last time Hughes pitched this well — missing bats with his fastball, fooling hitters with his curve. That performance came back in Game 3 of their division series last October, when he dominated the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium. Or, about nine months ago. Hughes did not approach that level of supremacy Sunday, but he had a good feeling about this start, mentioning Saturday how much he was looking forward to implementing the changes he had made recently.  Hughes last pitched July 6 against Cleveland, and the 10-day layoff allowed him to throw four bullpen sessions. He used that time to gain comfort with a subtle mechanical tweak — his hips now open more as he finishes his delivery — and a new curveball, one that he turned to out of necessity. Once an outstanding pitch, it had lost bite and depth. He noticed that hitters were tracking the ball out of his hand, and as a result he did not generate as much weak contact or as many as awkward swings as before.  So last week at the suggestion of the pitching coach Larry Rothschild, Hughes abandoned his knuckle grip in favor of a more conventional style, which produces a more acute break, added velocity — 75 to 80 miles per hour — and a spike in confidence. He threw all five for strikes in the first inning, including one on the outside corner that froze Eric Thames for his first strikeout.  “Normally with my old curveball, he probably would have recognized it and at least fouled it off or something,” Hughes said. “I knew right out of the chute that it was going to be a good pitch for me.”  He kept throwing the curve, throwing 25 in all, or, 31.3 percent of his 80 pitches. In his previous four starts, Hughes had thrown his curve 17 percent of the time, according to FanGraphs.com: he had found a new toy.  “It gave guys less time to react, and that’s what you’re aiming for,” Hughes said. “You want to fool them, but at the same time you don’t want them to readjust for a slower breaking ball.”  The curve, though, is just a secondary pitch, losing effectiveness without a potent fastball to tandem with it. Hughes’s average fastball velocity dipped every inning, as it did in his last start, but Martin said it had more movement and life. He pointed to the six swings-and-misses, three on third strikes.  “I think that’s a big confidence booster for him, just to be able to throw that fastball by guys,” Martin said. “That’s his style, so that’s a good sign.”  A good sign — that seems the fairest way to assess Hughes on Sunday. He is not about to supplant C. C. Sabathia atop the rotation, nor will he cause the Yankees to abort their pursuit of another front-line starter, perhaps the Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez, who has a friendly contract.  Hughes, if nothing else, revealed how an effective pitcher can handle a challenging lineup. In losing the first two games, the Yankees’ starters — Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia — allowed 14 runs in five and two-thirds innings. In winning the final two, their starters surrendered three runs in 14 innings, and on Sunday a four-run fourth inning, keyed by a two-run double by Curtis Granderson, helped them pull away.  Even though Hughes had settled into a rhythm, plowing through his final four innings on 42 pitches, Girardi pulled him after six because of the heat. On the bench, Hughes tried to persuade Rothschild and Girardi to let him start the seventh, but to no avail. Next time, he said. He and the Yankees have much to look forward to.  Chris Dickerson was recalled from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace Greg Golson.  A version of this article appears in print on July 18, 2011, on Page D2 of the New York edition with the headline: Hughes Pitches More Like His Old Self in a Win. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Phil Hughes was sharp in his second start since coming off the disabled list, which likely filled the Yankees with confidence and relief.