Bryan Hoch / MLB.com NEW YORK -- Phil Hughes took the ball for his first career playoff start feeling like it was going to be his biggest assignment of the year, and the young right-hander came through to help the Yankees finish off a three-game sweep of the Twins in the American League Division Series. The series win marks the first time that the Yankees have advanced past the ALDS as a Wild Card entrant. Hughes pitched seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball as the Yankees defeated the Twins, 6-1, in Game 3 of the ALDS on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, popping the corks as they advanced past the first round for the second successive season. New York will now await the winner of the remaining ALDS series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers, with the Yankees hitting the road to open the AL Championship Series on Friday. The Rangers lead their series, 2-1. Enjoying his first full season as a starter -- a campaign that was marked by his first career All-Star appearance -- Hughes added a few new highlights on a clear, cool evening, with a sellout crowd of 50,840 watching the first postseason game in the Bronx since last November's World Series clincher. With the bubbly on ice, Hughes was up to the task, relying mostly on his strong fastball and using his curveball, cutter and changeup for punctuation in a dominant effort. The 24-year-old retired the first nine batters he saw and faced the minimum into the fifth. Minnesota challenged Hughes in the fifth inning, getting two men aboard with one out, but the right-hander came back to strike out Michael Cuddyer and get Danny Valencia to pop out. The Twins also got a pair of two-out hits in the sixth, but Hughes whiffed cleanup hitter Jason Kubel to end the inning. Hughes recorded his final out on a flyout to end the seventh, walking off to a standing ovation as he exchanged fist bumps with captain Derek Jeter. Hughes walked one and struck out six in the 99-pitch performance, his 12th career postseason appearance. In winning their ninth consecutive postseason game against the Twins, the longest stretch of dominance between any two clubs in playoff history, the Yankees tried a new avenue by getting on the scoreboard first. New York had not scored first against Minnesota in a playoff game since Game 1 of the 2004 ALDS, an eight-game streak, but changing the sequence of runs on the board had no effect on the eventual outcome. The Yankees cracked through against Minnesota left-hander Brian Duensing in the second inning, as Robinson Cano tripled to deep left-center field and scored on Jorge Posada's one-out single -- Posada's 41st career postseason RBI, moving him past Mickey Mantle for ninth place on baseball's all-time list. New York added a run in the third inning, as Nick Swisher doubled to left-center and came home on Mark Teixeira's bullet one-hop single off the left-field wall, making it a 2-0 game. After a Cano infield single started the fourth, Marcus Thames belted a two-run shot to right field -- his first of the playoffs after he slugged 12 during a regular season in which he punished left-handed pitching despite barely making the team out of Spring Training. Duensing walked the final batter he faced, Curtis Granderson, who stole second base and advanced to third on an error before scoring on a Brett Gardner sacrifice fly. Duensing completed 3 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out one. Swisher added a solo home run, his first of the postseason, in the seventh inning off Scott Baker to open up a six-run advantage. Kerry Wood relieved Hughes in the eighth but encountered a rare bout of ineffectiveness, allowing a run and yielding to Boone Logan after loading the bases with one out. Logan retired Jason Kubel on one pitch, and Dave Robertson followed by retiring Delmon Young to end the threat.
