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Posted at 12:24 p.m., Monday, April 23, 2007

Yankees' top pitching prospect to debut on Thursday

Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A day after getting swept by the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees said Monday they plan on having top pitching prospect Phil Hughes make his major league debut Thursday against Toronto.

Yankees manager Joe Torre didn't rule out that the 20-year-old right-hander, taken in the first round of the 2004 amateur draft, might make more than one start.

"If we're comfortable and we sense he's comfortable, we'll see what we do," Torre said before the Yankees played Tampa Bay.

Hughes is 2-1 with a 3.94 ERA in three starts this season at Triple-A Scranton, and he pitched six shutout innings last Wednesday at Syracuse, allowing two hits, striking out 10 and walking none.

In Sunday's 7-6 loss at Boston, Chase Wright made only his second big league start and became only the second major league pitcher to allow homers to four consecutive batters. Before last week, Wright had not pitched above Double-A.

New York is scrambling to cope with injuries to its starting rotation. Chien-Ming Wang is scheduled to come off the disabled list Tuesday following a hamstring injury, but Mike Mussina (hamstring) and Carl Pavano (forearm) remain sidelined.