Ivan Nova will take the win.
With the way his season ended last year and a shaky start to 2013, he can't be too picky.
"I was joking with the guys that I don't remember the last time I won a ballgame," Nova said after earning the victory in the Yankees' 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks Tuesday night in The Bronx.
After being off for 10 days thanks to being skipped in the rotation, Nova struggled with command — again — and lasted just five innings, but he was able to get strikeouts at key moments to limit the damage.
In the first, he struck out Cody Ross with a runner on second. An inning later, he fanned Cliff Pennington with another runner on second. And in the third, after giving up two runs with one out, he got Eric Chavez swinging and Eric Hinske to ground out with two runners on.
"He locks it in when guys get on base," catcher Chris Stewart said. "It would be a lot easier if he does that before he lets them on."
That's an adjustment Nova admitted he has to make.
"One thing I've got to do is be aggressive from the beginning," said Nova, who improved to 1-1 with his first win since Sept. 15. "Sometimes my catchers get mad at me. ... I have to make sure from the first pitch to be aggressive."
He was most effective in his last two innings, but manager Joe Girardi lifted him after five innings — and 94 pitches.
Nova made his only other start this season on April 5 in Detroit, where he threw 96 pitches in 4 2/3 innings.
"He did a pretty good job for not pitching in 10 days," Girardi said. "He had to be a little rusty."
Perhaps the biggest difference from his first start to last night was the work of the bullpen. Nova left with a one-run lead when he was yanked in the fifth in Detroit and the pen imploded. Last night, Boone Logan, Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson shut down Arizona before Mariano Rivera closed it.
The next step for Nova will be figuring out a way to go deeper into the game.
"It's a mental approach," Stewart said. "Sometimes I have to go out there and tell him to focus. When he gets going, he's good. We've seen it when his mind is right and he makes good pitches. When he takes a break, balls kind of go everywhere and he leaves balls over the middle of the plate. My job is to get him to where he needs to be."
dan.martin@nypost.com
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