It’s not a must-win, but Hughes ‘excited’ for shot

Phil Hughes was two outs away from having to save the season Thursday night. But the 26-year-old righty got a pretty large reprieve.

Late in the regular season, Raul Ibanez hit a game-winning home run that took a struggling Mark Teixeira off the hook, prompting Teixeira to say in postgame how much he thanked Ibanez. Hughes might have done the same last night after Ibanez's pinch-hit homer in the ninth inning tied things up and his 12th-inning homer clinched the Yankees' 3-2 ALDS Game 3 win Wednesday night.

Hughes will take the mound for the Yankees in Thursday night's ALDS Game 4, a game that still has incredible significance. If he pitches poorly and loses, there will be a do-or-die Game 5 tomorrow.

Neil Miller

Phil Hughes

"Obviously [tonight] is going to be a big game," Hughes said yesterday in pregame, "either playing to stay alive or playing to move on."

Indeed, Hughes also has the chance to pitch the Yankees tonight to the ALCS, where they'll face either the A's or Tigers. Either way, Hughes will be oddly attempting to both continue and reverse his recent postseason success.

How so? Last year Hughes wasn't in the Yankees' postseason rotation, but in the ALDS against the Tigers, he pitched twice in relief, firing 2 ***1/3*** scoreless innings while striking out four. At the same time, the last experience that Hughes had starting playoff games was in the 2010 ALCS against the Rangers — and he was absolutely battered in two starts, surrendering 11 runs on 14 hits and seven walks in just 8²/₃ innings.

"I've been looking forward to this, and it's going to be exciting," Hughes said.

Hughes, who owns a career playoff ERA of 5.40 in 16 games (6.32 ERA in his three starts), faced Baltimore four times this season, going 2-2 with a 4.76 ERA. He also struggled to close the season, posting a 7.16 ERA in his final three starts.

If the Yankees were in a must-win game tonight, they could have skipped Hughes and started CC Sabathia on three days' rest. But manager Joe Girardi was not inclined to then bring Andy Pettitte back on short rest for Game 5.

"This is a guy that's coming off an injury, didn't have a ton of starts, threw as many pitches [98] the other day as he's thrown in a while. He's 40 years old," Girardi said. "So I do have some concerns about that."

mark.hale@nypost.com

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