Detroit 2, NY Yankees 1
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Where: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
Temperature:
53°
Umpires:
Home -
Sam Holbrook, 1B -
Jeff Nelson, 2B -
Gary Cederstrom, 3B -
Mike Winters, LF -
Jeff Kellogg, RF -
Rob Drake
Attendance:
42490
By SportsDirect Inc.
Tigers 2, Yankees 1: Justin Verlander tossed 8 1/3 masterful innings and Delmon Young belted a solo home run as host Detroit took a commanding 3-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Miguel Cabrera added an RBI double for the Tigers, who can complete the sweep and clinch their 11th World Series appearance with a victory Wednesday.
Eduardo Nunez homered and Ichiro Suzuki recorded the other two hits off Verlander for the Yankees, who have scored in only two of the 30 innings this series.
While New York benched struggling stars Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher, Verlander (1-0) made easy work of the Yankees' lineup over the first eight innings, striking out three without a walk. The 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner, who kept New York off the basepaths until Suzuki's one-out single in the fourth, has surrendered two runs in 24 1/3 innings this postseason.
Verlander, who threw 86 of 132 pitches for strikes, had his bid for a second straight shutout end when Nunez led off the ninth with a shot over the fence in left. Verlander had not allowed a run since the first batter he faced in the AL Division Series - Oakland's Coco Crisp - belted a homer.
After Verlander retired Brett Gardner, Phil Coke came on and induced a groundout by Suzuki before allowing singles to Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano. But the former Yankee left-hander struck out Raul Ibanez with a 3-2 slider to seal the win and notch his second save of the series.
Detroit opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Young led off by lining a 1-2 pitch from Phil Hughes (0-1) into the Tigers' bullpen in left field. It was Young's seventh postseason blast with Detroit, extending his franchise record.
Hughes proceeded to walk Andy Dirks and had an 0-2 count on Jhonny Peralta before exiting with a stiff back. David Phelps came on and retired three of four batters to end the inning.
Detroit doubled its lead against Phelps in the fifth. Leadoff hitter Quintin Berry reached on an error by third baseman Eric Chavez and stole second before scoring on Cabrera's double to deep center, which extended the triple crown winner's LCS hitting streak to a major league-record 16 games.
Cano was 0-for-3 before his two-out single in the ninth, which ended his hitless drought at 29 at-bats - the longest in one postseason in major league history. Cano is batting .083 (3-for-36) over his first eight playoff games.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Cabrera walked in the third inning to extend his streak of reaching safely to a franchise-record 19 straight playoff games. The previous club mark had been held by Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg. ... With his seventh postseason double as a Tiger, Cabrera tied Greenberg for second place on the franchise list - two behind Pete Fox. The double was his 11th playoff extra-base hit with Detroit, three behind Greenberg's franchise record. ... Young has hit five home runs in his last eight postseason games against the Yankees. ... New York CF Curtis Granderson is hitting .103 with 15 strikeouts in 29 at-bats this postseason.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| NY Yankees
|
5 |
1 |
8 |
.156 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Detroit
|
7 |
1 |
11 |
.226 |
19 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
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