Robinson Cano celebrates his two-run homer in the third inning Sunday. It’s the 20th homer for the Yankees’ All-Star second baseman.  YANKEES 4, WHITE SOX 2 One of the first bits of advice Joe Girardi dispensed to what remained of his starting pitching staff after both CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte landed on the disabled list was simply to be yourself. “I said all along that these guys don’t try to do more than they’re capable,” Giardi said. “They can’t make CC’s starts and they can’t make Andy’s starts. But he can make good Phil Hughes starts and he has stepped up and pitched very well.” In Sunday’s series finale against the White Sox, Hughes seemed to take Girardi’s message to heart, toiling through eight solid innings in the brutal Bronx heat to notch his fifth victory in his last six outings, 4-2, before an Old-Timers’ Day sellout crowd of 48,324 at the Stadium. “We knew this was a challenge and we do need to step up and pitch well while we don’t have those guys,” said Hughes, who allowed just two first-inning runs and struck out eight to run his record to 9-6. “And it’s going to be a challenge, it’s going to be tough but we can only do what we can do. (Ivan) Nova pitched great (Thursday), Hiro (Hiroki Kuroda) pitched great (Saturday). I’m just trying to keep us going.” As has been the case in most of Hughes’ starts, he had to weather a rough first inning before he found his groove. He allowed a leadoff double to Alejandro De Aza. One batter later the Chisox had a 1-0 lead after Kevin Youkilis’ RBI single. Youkilis eventually came around to score on a two-out single by Alex Rios but that would be all the White Sox scoring. “I thought he made some mistakes with the location of his fastball and then he corrected it and that was the big difference,” Girardi said. It was the typical first-inning struggles for Hughes. “The first inning sometimes I get a little jammed up and it’s been a problem this year,” Hughes said. “I’m trying to, especially at home, calm those emotions a little bit and pitch from the get-go instead of trying to overthrow.” Hughes said escaping that first inning with minimal damage was the key.  “They are a dangerous lineup and after the first inning I’m thinking to myself, ‘Just hold them right here and if we can score some runs we can get back in this thing,’” Hughes said. Hughes settled down to retire the side in order in the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth inings and set down 15 of the final 16 batters he faced. “Phil did good, man, he bounced back,” said Eric Chavez, who drilled a two-run homer in the second inning to tie it 2-2. “It could have been one of those days. (Chicago) was swinging the bats real well.” Robinson Cano clubbed a two-run homer in the third — his ninth longball in his last 14 games — to give the Yankees the lead for good off Gavin Floyd (6-8) at 4-2. After hitting .340 with 11 homers and 21 RBI in June, Cano was showing no signs of cooling off as the calendar flipped to July. “You can see why he’s one of the most dangerous hitters in the game because of what he’s able to do,” Girardi said. Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his 18th save, only allowing a walk. Hughes is now 6-0 this season against teams from the Central and 17-6 in his career, but more importantly, he owns an 8-2 record in his last 11 starts. “He threw an outstanding game in heat,” Girardi said. “He stayed consistent and to be able to give us eight innings on a day like (Sunday) is pretty amazing. Extremely pleased.”
Robinson Cano is not only an All-Star, he's easily the hottest hitter in the Yankees’ lineup right now.  The second baseman homered for the ninth time in the last 14 games, leading the Yanks to a 4-2 win over the White Sox.