By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com NEW YORK -- Phil Hughes pitched into the seventh inning and the Yankees got two-run doubles from Lance Berkman and Robinson Cano to defeat the Rays, 8-3, on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, further extending their lead in the American League East race. The Yankees knocked back the Rays for a second successive evening, bumping their advantage in the division to 2 1/2 games and ensuring at least a split of this four-game series. Hughes entered Tuesday with the best support -- 7.73 runs per nine innings -- of any Major League pitcher, and the Yankees played true to those statistics by batting around in a five-run first inning against Tampa Bay starter James Shields. Swisher started the damage with a solo line-drive home run to right-center field, his 27th, and Jorge Posada drove in New York's second run with an RBI single. Berkman followed with a booming two-run double to center field, and Curtis Granderson continued his recent hot hitting after a two-homer, five-RBI game on Monday by adding an RBI single to center. Seeking his first victory of the month, Hughes dabbled with danger -- tying a season high with five walks -- but he hung on to post his career-high 17th win. Matt Joyce put Tampa Bay on the board in the second inning, connecting with a 2-1 pitch from Hughes and hooking it into the second deck in right field for a solo home run, his ninth. The Rays moved their second run across in the third inning, as Evan Longoria knocked in John Jaso with a run-scoring single to left, but Tampa Bay was silenced into the seventh inning, when Hughes departed after two batters and yielded to Javier Vazquez. Vazquez got the second out of the inning but surrendered a run-scoring single to Carl Crawford that drew Tampa Bay within two runs, closing Hughes' line at three runs and four hits through 6 1/3 innings. Hughes threw 112 pitches, his third-highest total of the year, striking out six. Shields quieted the Yankees after the loud first, completing 5 1/3 innings of seven-hit ball, but the Yankees added two insurance runs in the seventh off Tampa Bay pitching. After Chad Qualls started the inning, Cano greeted Randy Choate with a blooped two-run double that eluded a diving Crawford in left field and trickled away, allowing both Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez to score.
