Bronx, N.Y., May 15, 2013 — Well, it was bound to happen, though perhaps not as dramatically as the ugly Wednesday Yankee 12-2 loss to Seattle in the Bronx proved to be. Enigmatic Yankee righthander Phil Hughes had his worst start in … well, forever, failing to survive the game’s first inning, and putting his teammates in a 7-0 hole. Phil garnered his first out in two pitches, then recorded his next 32 tosses later. CC Sabathia was striking out Robert Andino to end the top of the second at 7:29 Tuesday night; 24 hours later, Preston Claiborne, in already for Hughes, put an end to the top of the first with a called third strike at the same moment.

The Yanks would scratch out eight hits over the night, including one-run homers from Vernon Wells in the first and Chris Stewart in the fifth, but this contest was never in doubt. Popular 2012 Yankee Raul Ibanez, back in the Stadium playing for Seattle, almost broke open the eventual Yankee win Tuesday with a two-run homer; there was nothing “almost” about his Wednesday game, as he added a two-run opposite-field shot in the fifth to go with the grand slam he had blasted in the first, accounting for six of the 12 Mariners runs with two swings of his bat.

Hughes has displayed a Jekyl/Hyde side before, so his meltdown, though disappointing, isn’t the big news of the night from the pinstriped perspective. Two minor leaguers made their major league debuts playing for the Yanks in this game. Newly promoted David Adams, who completed some nifty plays at third, turned in four assists and a putout, and singled in his third at bat in his first major league game. But the greater contribution was made by righty thrower Brett Marshall. His debut was not as anticipated as Adams’s over a few years of minor league play, and he did surrender two home runs and five runs that pushed the visitor score to 12, but by pitching 5-2/3 innings of relief, he saved the rest of the Yankee bullpen from being wasted in a lost cause.

Having at-the-time unnoticed contributions resonate over years of future baseball success is not an unheard-of outcome in baseball, and certainly not in the game as played in the Bronx. Just look at the unmatched career of Lou Gehrig once he got his chance to play first base after Wally Pipp was feeling poorly one day.

But this phenomenon has actually occurred in Yankee baseball in years past on this very day, May 15. Batting on the 15th day of the fifth month in 1941, Joe DiMaggio reached Eddie Smith of the White Sox for a harmless single in a 13-1 Palehose drubbing of the Yankees. No one suspected at the time that that would be the first of 56 consecutive games in which Joe D would hit safely. And in a May 15, 1996, contest against the same franchise faced this night, the Mariners, a struggling Jimmy Key failed to hold an early 4-0 Yankee lead, as he and five relievers were battered for 19 hits in a 10-5 Seattle win. Six months and 11 days later, Key took the mound in a Game 6 victory that would dispel all the gloom built up during an 18-year gap between Yankee World Series wins.

So despite the ugliness with which the Wednesday game was lost, there continue to be good signs for the team playing their home games in the South Bronx. Following a 6-2 road trip, the home stand record is 1-1, and they can take the series from the Mariners in what is supposed to be the first truly summer-like day in Yankee Stadium on Thursday evening. Second-place team Baltimore lost, even if by considerably fewer runs, so the Yankees continue to hold a two-game lead, with a road confrontation with the Orioles less than a week away. The bullpen is rested for the rubber game vs the M’s and three hosting suddenly hot Toronto.

And with veteran Kevin Youkilis’s balky back keeping him out indefinitely, the Yanks can plug Adams into a third-base role he’s been prepping for for years. Perhaps six months down the road, the team and its fans can look back at this night and think about, not the lusty “Boos!” as Hughes walked dejectedly off the mound, but rather the

Bronx Debuts we saw tonight.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!