Results tagged ‘ Tigers ’
Cano’s Blast Honors Namesake, Boosts Yankees
GAME 12
YANKEES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 2
On a night that the New York Yankees paid tribute to the man who broke the color line in Major League Baseball on April 15, 1952, Jackie Robinson, a player named in his honor won the game on Tuesday with a mammoth three-run home run.
Robinson Cano launched a 3-2 change-up off right-hander Brandon McCarthy in the fourth inning to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead as New York went on defeat Arizona in front of paid crowd of 34,107 at Yankee Stadium.
Lyle Overbay and Chris Stewart opened the fourth with back-to-back singles and, after Brett Gardner struck out swinging, Cano blasted his fourth home run of the season into the second deck of the bleachers in right-center. It took Cano until May 18 to hit his fourth home run last season.
Ivan Nova (1-1) pitched a shaky five innings but got credit for the victory by limiting the Diamondbacks to two runs on seven hits and two walks while he struck six batters.
Arizona scored their runs in the third inning when they loaded the bases with nobody out and Miguel Montero lofted a sacrifice fly to score the first run and Cody Ross followed with an RBI single.
However, McCarthy (0-2) could not keep his pitch count in check enough to hold the lead. He left after four innings having given up three runs on nine hits and two walks while he fanned four. He threw 102 pitches.
The Yankees plated a huge insurance run in the seventh inning off reliever Brad Ziegler when Eduardo Nunez launched a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out to score Kevin Youkilis, who opened the inning with his second single of the game.
The Yankees bullpen of Boone Logan, Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera shut out the Diamondbacks over the final four innings on just one hit to preserve the victory.
Rivera, the only major-league player currently wearing Robinson’s No. 42, fittingly ended the tribute to the former Los Angeles Dodgers star by pitching a perfect ninth inning to register his third save in as many tries of the season.
The Yankees have now won six of their past seven games and they improved their season mark to 7-5. The Diamondback fell to 8-5.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Cano was 2-for-4 with a walk in the game and is hitting .327 on the season with a team-leading 11 RBIs. In his past six games, Cano is 13-for-26 (.500) with four home runs and 11 RBIs. Manager Joe Girardi actually set the stage for the at-bat in the fourth by not having Gardner bunt to advance Overbay and Stewart, which forced McCarthy to pitch to Cano without a base open.
- The so-called “Replacements” continue their fine hitting. Youkilis, Overbay and Travis Hafner were a combined 5-for-12 (.417) with two doubles and two runs scored. Youkilis is hitting a team-best .348 while Hafner is defying skeptics who thought he was through after five seasons in which he was only healthy enough to play in 86 games. Hafner is hitting .324 in the cleanup spot.
- The bullpen looked really awful in the team’s first five games but it is looking much sharper now. They have not given up a run in the last four games in which they have pitched. Logan and Chamberlain looked particularly sharp after they both started off slow in the early going.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Nova is on a really short leash as a starter because of the way David Phelps has pitched in long relief of late. His command is still a big issue and he seems to have lost that swagger he had to challenge hitters. Give him credit for limiting the Diamondbacks to two runs but it was by no means a quality outing.
- One of the “Replacements,” Vernon Wells, did not exactly have an evening worth remembering. He was 0-for-3 with a walk and left three men on base, two in scoring position. He was the only Yankee starter to not get a hit. But even with the off night, Wells is hitting .300 with three homers and five RBIs.
BOMBER BANTER
In addition to the celebration for Robinson, the Yankees also paid tribute to the victims of the bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday. The team conducted a moment of silence before the game and they honored the city by playing “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond, which the Red Sox play in the eighth inning of every home game. . . . Left-hander Andy Pettitte threw about 40 pitches in a bullpen session on Tuesday and pronounced himself ready to pitch on Friday in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Pettitte, who is 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA, had his last start skipped because of back spasms he reported last Thursday. . . . Though shortstop Derek Jeter has not suffered any further setbacks in rehabbing his fractured left ankle, Girardi told reporters he will not be back in the lineup by May 1. Jeter is working out at the team’s minor-league complex in Tampa, FL, but he has not received clearance to play in any games yet.
ON DECK
The Yankees will continue their three-game inter-league series with the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
Left-hander CC Sabathia (2-1, 2.25 ERA) will get the start for the Yankees. Sabathia is coming off two strong outings against the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles in which he gave up just one earned run in his last 15 innings with 13 strikeouts. He is 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA lifetime against the Diamondbacks.
He will be opposed by left-hander Wade Miley (2-0, 2.13 ERA). Miley defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in his last start, giving up just two runs in 6 2/3 innings of work. He has never faced the Yankees.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and it will be telecast by MY9.
Yanks, ‘Jonesing’ For Victory, Triple Up On Orioles
GAME 9
YANKEES 5, ORIOLES 2
As the old saying goes “If you watch enough baseball you can guarantee that you will see something you never saw before,” Yankee fans saw some pretty strange things on Friday in their game against the Orioles.
With the game hanging in the balance in the late innings, the Yankees pulled out the victory when a Gold Glove center-fielder dropped a fly ball with the bases loaded and the Yankees protected that lead by turning one of the craziest triple plays ever.
In the end, CC Sabathia pitched eight solid innings and Mariano Rivera tossed a scoreless ninth for his second save as New York ran its current winning streak to four games by defeating Baltimore on a damp, cold and windy evening in front of paid crowd of 35,033 at Yankee Stadium.
After the Orioles tied the game at 2-2 in the seventh by scoring an unearned run, Miguel Gonzalez (1-1) opened the bottom of the inning by walking Francisco Cervelli and Orioles manager Buck Showalter removed Gonzalez in favor of left-hander Troy Patton.
Brett Gardner advanced Cervelli to second with a sacrifice bunt, his second of the game. One out later, Patton walked Kevin Youkilis intentionally so he could pitch to the left-handed-hitting Travis Hafner. But Patton hit Hafner on the left thigh on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases and Showalter brought in right-hander Pedro Strop to pitch to the right-handed-hitting Vernon Wells.
Wells lofted a 2-0 fastball to the warning track in straightway center-field and Orioles outfielder Adam Jones had the ball carom off the tip of his glove to allow all three runs to score without the benefit of a hit in the inning.
The Orioles rallied against Sabathia in the eighth inning when Alexi Casilla and Nick Markakis led off the frame with back-to-back singles. Then, on a full count, Manny Machado slapped a sinking liner that second baseman Robinson Cano caught on a short hop and he flipped the ball to shortstop Jayson Nix to erase Markakis at second.
Instead of firing the ball to first, Nix turned and threw the ball to Youkilis at third to catch Casilla in a rundown. Youkilis flipped back to Nix and Nix tossed back to Youkilis, who then was able to get Casilla with lunging tag about halfway back to second.
Youkilis got up and fired the ball to first baseman Lyle Overbay to catch Machado halfway between first and second base. Overbay then threw back to Cano at second to tag a sliding Machado to complete a very odd triple play.
The last time the Yankees turned a triple play at home was June 3, 1968, against the Minnesota Twins. It was also the first 4-6-5-6-5-3-4 triple play in major-league history, dating back to 1876.
Meanwhile, Sabathia (2-1) was actually cruising with a 2-1 lead going into the seventh until a Youkilis error on a Matt Wieters ground ball was followed by an odd balk call from first-base umpire Larry Vanover. Sabathia was standing on the mound wiping his left hand on his pant leg waiting for a sign when the call was made.
One out later, J.J. Hardy bounced a slow roller up the middle to score an unearned run for the O’s that tied the game.
Sabathia scattered eight hits, walked none and struck out nine in his eight innings of work.
Gonzalez, meanwhile, struggled with his command, giving up five hits and five walks while fanning four in six-plus innings.
With the victory the Yankees surpassed the .500 mark for the first time this season at 5-4. The Orioles fell to 5-5.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Cano did not cool off much after the two rainouts in Cleveland. The All-Star second baseman was 2-4 and he drove in the tie-breaking run in the fifth inning after the Yankees perfectly executed some “small ball.” Cervelli worked Gonzalez for a walk and Gardner advanced him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Cano then slapped an opposite-field bullet into left to score Cervelli. Cano is now batting .324 and he leads the Yankees in RBIs with eight.
- Youkilis has not cooled off either. He was 3-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI. He drove in the tying run in the third after Gardner walked and Cano advanced to third with a single. Youkilis then ripped a line-drive single to left to score Gardner. Youkilis is batting a team-best .424 and he is second on the team with seven RBIs.
- Despite the bogus balk call, Sabathia was excellent for the second outing in a row. His career record against the Orioles is now 17-4 and in his last two starts he has given up two runs (one earned) on 12 hits and three walks while he has struck out 13 batters. He lowered his season ERA to 2.25.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Youkilis sometimes giveth and sometimes he giveth away. He committed one fielding error and one base-running blunder that cost the Yankees dearly. In the third inning when he singled in Gardner he rounded first base way too far and Casilla was able to throw him out attempting to slide back into first base on a throw to Chris Davis. If he had held the Yankees would have had runners at first and third and one out. His fielding error in the seventh eventually led to the score being tied.
- Ichiro Suzuki looks lost at the plate early in the season. He came into the game hitting .185 and was 0-4 with two strikeouts and he failed to get a ball out of the infield.
- On a night that was cold and the wind was blowing in Wells insisted on hitting towering fly balls that went nowhere until he connected on the ball in the seventh that Jones dropped in center. Wells ended up 0-for-4 and his batting average fell to from .360 to .310. He also stranded a team-high four base-runners.
BOMBER BANTER
It would not be the Yankees if we did not report on some new injuries. Shortstop Eduardo Nunez, who is starting for the injured Derek Jeter, had to be removed from his second game within a week after being hit by a pitch. Nunez was struck in the right wrist by a pitch from Gonzalez and he was forced to leave the game in the top of the third inning. He was replaced by Nix. X-rays indicated no break in the wrist and only a contusion. He is listed as day-to-day. Nunez was struck in the right bicep on a pitch from Doug Fister last Friday in Detroit and missed two starts. . . . Manager Joe Girardi told reporters on Friday that Andy Pettitte will not be able to make his scheduled start on Sunday due to back spasms. Girardi said the injury is not serious and he hopes Pettitte will be able to pitch Tuesday or Wednesday at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Phil Hughes, who had his start on Thursday skipped, will now pitch Saturday and Saturday’s scheduled starter, Hiroki Kuroda, will pitch on Sunday. . . . Cleveland Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who was ejected from Tuesday’s game against the Yankees for hitting Youkilis with a pitch after Cano hat hit a two-run home run, was suspended by Major League Baseball for eight games and fined an undisclosed amount. Carrasco, who was forced to serve out a six-game suspension last week stemming from a similar incident when he threw at the head of Billy Butler against the Royals in July 2011, is at Triple-A Columbus and can’t be used in a major-league game until he serves out the eight-game suspension at the major-league level. Carrasco’s six-game suspension was delayed to this season because he underwent Tommy John surgery before he could serve the suspension.
ON DECK
The Yankees put their four-game winning steak on the line on Saturday in the second game of the series against the Orioles.
Hughes (0-1, 6.75 ERA) was tagged for four runs (three earned) on eight hits and in four-plus innings in a loss to the Tigers on April 6. Hughes is 6-4 with a 5.10 ERA in his career against Baltimore.
He will be opposed by right-hander Jason Hammel (1-1, 4.97 ERA). Hammel allowed four runs in 6 2/3 innings in Sunday’s series loss to the Twins. Hammel is 1-3 with a 6.20 lifetime against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 4:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.
Rain Again Forces Postponement Of Yanks-Indians
GAME 9
YANKEES VS. INDIANS (POSTPONED)
For the second consecutive evening, heavy rain in the metropolitan Cleveland area has forced a postponement of the series finale on Thursday between New York and Cleveland at Progressive Field.
No makeup date has ben announced for the two games that were washed away. However, manager Joe Girardi did tell reporters that he expects the games will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader scheduled for May 13.
The Indians will remain in Cleveland and open a weekend series against divisional-rival Chicago on Friday. The Yankees will return home to open a weekend series against division-rival Baltimore.
Girardi said he has elected to skip Thursday’s scheduled starter, Phil Hughes, in order to keep ace left-hander CC Sabathia pitching on schedule. Hughes - as well as Wednesday’s scheduled starter, Ivan Nova - will be available to pitch out of the bullpen for the next few days.
BOMBER BANTER
First baseman Mark Teixeira will have his right wrist examined on Friday and he told reporters that he expects to be able to begin swinging a fungo bat soon. Teixeira, who turned 33 on Thursday, has been sidelined with a partially torn sheath in his wrist and he is still targeting a return to action around May 1. . . . The protective brace was removed from Curtis Granderson’s right wrist on Thursday and he has been cleared to begin resume throwing. Granderson has been out with a fractured right forearm he suffered in his first at-bat in spring training on Feb.24. Granderson soon will progress to begin taking swings with a bat and he is hoping to return around May 1 as well.
ON DECK
The Yankees return to Yankee Stadium to open a weekend series with the Orioles.
Sabathia (1-1, 3.00 ERA) will pitch for the Yankees coming off an excellent seven innings of shutout baseball against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. Sabathia used his fastball and changeup to limit the Tigers to just four hits. In his career Sabathia is 16-4 with a 3.12 ERA against the Orioles. That does not include his American League Division Series-clinching victory in Game 5 against the Orioles last October.
The O’s will counter with left-hander Miguel Gonzalez (1-0, 2.84 ERA). Gonzalez gave up two runs in 6 1/3 innings on Sunday in a victory against the Tampa Bay Rays. He was 2-0 with a 2.63 ERA last season against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast locally by MY9.
Yankees-Indians Game Washed Out By Downpour
GAME 9
YANKEES VS. INDIANS (POSTPONED)
The weather at Progressive Field was cold, windy and - more importantly - wet. As a result the game between New York and Cleveland scheduled for Wednesday had to be postponed. No makeup date for the game has been announced.
The four-game series between the two teams is scheduled to conclude on Thursday. However, the forecast for the game is not much better than it was on Wednesday.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi announced that Ivan Nova, who was scheduled to pitch on Wednesday, will be skipped in the rotation in order to keep CC Sabathia on schedule to pitch on Friday at Yankee Stadium against the Baltimore Orioles. Nova will shift to the bullpen until he is needed for his next start.
The Indians, who were scheduled to pitch right-hander Corey Kluber, said that Kluber will not pitch on Thursday. Kluber was recalled when the Indians optioned right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who was the losing pitcher in Tuesday’s 14-1 thrashing by the Yankees, to Triple-A Columbus. Kluber instead will shift to the bullpen as a long reliever.
BOMBER BANTER
Derek Jeter took batting practice on the field at the Yankees’ minor-league complex in Tampa, FL, for the first time since March 23, when he suffered a setback in his rehab from surgery on left ankle. Jeter also fielded ground balls, threw to first base and ran in the outfield. At the same time, Curtis Granderson was taking fly balls in the outfield but he still has not been cleared to throw. Granderson told reporters that after undergoing a examination of his fractured forearm on Tuesday that he hopes he will be able to start a throwing program on Thursday.
ON DECK
The Yankees hope to get Thursday’s game in with the Indians to preclude a need for a makeup doubleheader.
In skipping Nova, the Yankees have opted to use right-hander Phil Hughes (0-1, 6.75 ERA), who gave up four runs (three earned) in 4 2/3 innings of work in his 2013 debut against the Detroit Tigers on Saturday. Hughes had been sidelined all of spring training with a bulging disk in his upper back. Hughes is 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA in his career against the Tribe.
The Indians will counter with former Yankee right-hander Zach McCallister (0-1, 3.00 ERA). McCallister gave up four runs (two earned) on six hits and no walks in six innings against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. He has never faced the Yankees.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.
Cano 5 RBIs Key Another Yankee Clubbing Of Tribe
GAME 8
YANKEES 14, INDIANS 1
Robinson Cano entered Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Indians owning the highest opposing batting average at Progressive Field of players with a minimum of 50 at-bats at .358. After the game, Cano’s average at the stadium went into the stratosphere.
Cano went 4-for-6 with two doubles and a home run and drove in five runs as New York unleashed a torrent of five home runs to back another solid effort from Andy Pettitte to destroy Cleveland for the second straight evening.
The Yankees jumped on Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco (0-1) for four runs after two were out in the second inning, keyed by a two-run single by Brett Gardner and a a two-run double by Cano.
They added a run with two out in the third inning when Ichiro Suzuki cranked his first home run of the season.
Carrasco, as was his pattern all night, got into even more trouble with two out in the fourth when he walked Gardner and Cano followed with a mammoth opposite-field blast into the left-field bleachers to extend the Yankees’ lead to 7-0.
On Aug. 1, 2011, Carrasco drew a six-game suspension and a fine for an incident in which he threw at the head of the Royals’ Billy Butler after Melky Cabrera blasted a grand-slam homer off of him.
On Tuesday, Carrasco’s first pitch after Cano’s home run struck Kevin Youkilis in the left shoulder. Home plate umpire Jordan Baker immediately sprung from behind home plate and ejected Carrasco.
Carrasco left after giving up seven runs on seven hits and two walks and he registered two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
The seven-run cushion was more than enough support for Pettitte (2-0).
The 40-year-old left-hander pitched seven solid innings, giving up only a solo home run to Asdrubal Cabrera to lead off the sixth inning. Pettitte gave up only the one run on five hits and three walks while he fanned three.
Meanwhile, the Yankees showed no mercy on Indians’ pitching by pounding reliever Brett Myers for seven runs on 11 hits over the remaining 5 1/3 innings. Included in those hits was a two-run home run from Youkilis in the sixth, a solo home run by Lyle Overbay in the seventh and a two-run pinch-hit home run by Brennan Boesch in the seventh.
For Overbay and Boesch it was their first home runs of the season and their first as members of the Yankees.
In their past three games, the Yankees have outscored their opposition 32-7.
The victory evened the Yankees’ season mark at 4-4. The Indians dropped to 3-5.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Cano has had a nice week in just two games in Cleveland. He is 7-for-10 with two singles, three doubles, three home runs, six runs scored and seven RBIs in the series so far. He has raised his season average to .303 and it does not appear that batting second is adversely affecting him.
- After scuffling in the first seven games, Gardner broke out of his funk to go 4-for-5 with a walk, two doubles, two singles, three runs scored and two RBIs. Gardner entered the game hitting .167. He and Cano combined for eight of the team’s 18 hits and they drove in seven runs at the top of the order.
- Pettitte was cruising and likely would have won without all the run support. In his first two outings, Pettitte has given up just two runs on 13 hits and four walks while fanning seven in 15 innings. His ERA is a tidy 1.20 and his WHIP is an excellent 1.13. Does anyone really think he is too old to still be pitching?
NAGGING NEGATIVES
Why quibble with negatives after this team, which many people wrote off after they lost four of their first five games, has won its past three games in routs and has pounded out 44 hits in those contests. Yankee fans need to relax. This team will do fine until Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtsi Granderson and Alex Rodriguez get back. Just have a little faith.
BOMBER BANTER
Jeter has begun running at the team’s minor-league complex in Tampa, FL, and he seems to progressing in his rehab from a surgically repaired left ankle. Jeter also took ground balls and hit in the batting cage, but it is still too early for the Yankees to put a timetable on the Yankee captain’s return. . . . The Yankees are giving Boesch a crash-course in playing first base and coach Mick Kelleher hit some hard ground shots at him on Tuesday at Progressive Field. Boesch, who has been strictly an outfielder in his pro career, has not played the position since high school. The team is not looking to replace Overbay but they want to extend Boesch’s versatility. Manager Joe Girardi said that he would use Youkilis or Jayson Nix at first before he would put Boesch there but he wants Boesch to learn to play the position in case he is needed. . . . The Yankees have re-signed left-hander Clay Rapada to a minor-league contract, and he will report to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Rapada was designated for assignment last week and was expected to begin the season on the disabled list after dealing with left shoulder bursitis during spring training.
ON DECK
The Yankees certainly have their hitting shoes on as they continue their four-game set with the Indians on Wednesday.
Right-hander Ivan Nova (0-1, 7.71 ERA) will start for the Yankees. Nova is coming off a poor first outing against the Detroit Tigers last Friday in which he gave up four runs on five hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. Nova is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA against the Indians.
The Indians will counter with former Yankee right-hander Zach McCallister (0-1, 3.00 ERA). McCallister gave up four runs (two earned) on six hits and no walks in six innings against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. He has never faced the Yankees.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast nationally by ESPN2 and locally by the YES Network.
Hafner’s Four RBIs Ruin Ex-Indian Mates’ Opener
GAME 7
YANKEES 11, INDIANS 6
For 10 seasons Travis Hafner played for the Cleveland Indians and - when he was healthy - he drew loud cheers with his prodigious power and consistent run production. But the Indians elected to cast him aside last winter and the New York Yankees decided to give him a chance to recapture some of his old magic at age 35.
On Monday, Hafner returned to where he still makes his home and he had a big hand in spoiling the Indians’ home opener.
Hafner went 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs and an ice-cold Robinson Cano rediscovered his stroke for a double and pair of solo home runs as New York laid a heavy war club all over Cleveland in front of a sellout crowd of 41,567 at Progressive Field.
During the pregame introduction of the players Hafner, nicknamed “Pronk,” drew a nice ovation from his former home fans. But those cheers quickly turned into stunned silence with one out in the first inning when Hafner launched a 2-0 fastball off starter Ubaldo Jimenez (1-1) over 400 feet clearing the wall in centerfield for a three-run home run.
Hiroki Kuroda (1-1), making his second start and admittedly not 100 percent after getting nicked on his right middle finger by a line drive off the bat of Shane Victorino of the Boston Red Sox last Wednesday, struggled through a 33-pitch first inning that yielded three runs to the Tribe on three hits and two walks to knot the game back up.
But Hafner provided the Yankees with a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the day in the third. Cano slapped an opposite-field double to lead off the inning and one out later Hafner delivered an RBI single to center to score Cano.
Kuroda, though not at his best, was still able to settle in to keep the Indians scoreless until he left the game in the sixth inning. Kuroda ended up surrendering just the three runs on five hits and four walks while he struck out six batters.
The Yankee offense, meanwhile, was able to continue to tack on runs against Jimenez.
Cano, who entered the game hitting .130, led off the fifth inning with a home run to left-center. One out later, Hafner drew a walk and Jimenez was removed from the game in favor of right-hander Matt Albers.
After Vernon Wells singled to right and Hafner was able to thunder into third, Ichiro Suzuki scored him with a bloop single to right.
Jimenez was charged with seven runs on seven hits and three walks and he fanned four in 4 1/3 innings.
With two out an inning later, Cano blasted the first offering he saw from Albers into the right-field seats for his second home of the game and the his second of the season. The rout was pretty much on after that.
The Yankees added three more runs in the seventh off veteran left-hander Rich Hill to increase the margin to 11-3. The team that supposedly was so decimated with injuries to their best hitters ended the game with 13 hits and the Yankees have scored 18 runs on 26 hits in their past two games.
With the victory the Yankees improved their early-season record to 3-4. The Indians fell to the same record.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Hafner entered the game hitting .350 and he ended up 2-for-3 with two walks, three runs scored and four RBIs. Hafner is now batting .391 for the Yankees with two home runs and six RBIs. For those Yankees fans who believed that the Yankees were dead offensively without Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson may want to rethink that position.
- Cano busted out of his six-game funk in a big way. He was 3-for-4 with a double, two home runs, four runs scored and two RBIs. The good news for Yankee fans is that Cano started hitting the ball the opposite way instead of trying to pull everything and making easy outs.
- Wells, 34, is another reclamation project that is paying big dividends for the Yankees. Wells entered the game hitting .294 and went 3-for-4 with a walk, a run scored and a stolen base. Wells is now hitting .381 with two home runs and four RBIs. All of Wells three hits on Monday were hit to the opposite field. In 2012 Wells posted the worst statistical average of any player hitting to the opposite field.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Granted, Kuroda was not sharp as his four walks would indicate. But you have to give the 38-year-old right-hander some credit for pushing through a difficult start with command issues as a result of his bruised middle finger on his pitching hand. After the first inning, Kuroda only gave up two hits until he was removed with one out in the sixth inning.
- Shawn Kelley is trying manager Joe Girardi’s patience. He entered the game with two out in the seventh inning and held a 11-3 lead when he started the eighth. He ended up giving up a double, a two-run home run to Mike Aviles and a triple and allowed a third run to score on a wild pitch. In 5 1/3 innings of work over four appearances, Kelley has coughed up six runs on seven hits and three walks. He also has been tagged for three homers.
- Joba Chamberlain is also walking a fine line. He entered the ninth inning sporting a 21.60 ERA and ended up walking two batters and needing 29 pitches to get out of the ninth unscored upon. However, Girardi had Mariano Rivera get up to warm up in the bullpen and Girardi was not pleased.
BOMBER BANTER
After missing two starts at shortstop, Eduardo Nunez returned to the starting lineup and he was 0-for-4 but he did drive in a run in the seventh with a sacrifice fly. Nunez has been sidelined with a bruised right biceps after he was struck by a pitch by Tigers right-hander Doug Fister on Friday. . . . While the Indians and their fans saw Hafner wearing Nick Swisher’s old No. 33 for the Yankees on Monday, Swisher was wearing No. 33 for the Indians in his first meeting against the Yankee team he played for the past four seasons. Swisher played first base and batted fourth for the Tribe and he was 1-for-3 with two walks and a run scored.
ON DECK
The Yankees will continue their midweek four-game series with the Indians on Tuesday.
Left-hander Andy Pettitte (1-0, 1.13 ERA) will pitch for the Yankees. Pettitte was in vintage form in his first start of the season, limiting the Red Sox to one run on eight hits over eight innings last Thursday. Pettitte is 5-4 with a 3.87 ERA in the past 10 seasons against the Indians.
He will be opposed by right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who is making his first start of the season replacing injured left-hander Scott Kazmir. Carrasco is 10-15 with a 4.93 ERA in 33 career major-league starts. He is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 7:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.
CC Outguns Verlander As Yankees Blank Tigers
GAME 6
YANKEES 7, TIGERS 0
After being outscored 16-7 and outhit 26-12 in the first two games and having to face the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner in Sunday’s series finale, the Yankees countered that by throwing a former Cy Young Award winner of their own. The result was the polar opposite of what happened in the first two games.
CC Sabathia shut out the Tigers on just four hits in seven innings to outduel Justin Verlander and the Yankees busted loose for seven runs and 13 hits as New York salvaged the third game of the series to whitewash Detroit in front of a paid crowd of 39,829 at Comerica Park.
Sabathia (1-1) put the controversy surrounding the reduced velocity on his pitches by showing excellent command of his fastball and changeup to prevent any Tiger baserunner to get past second base. Sabathia also improved his career record against the Tigers to 19-12.
Meanwhile, Sabathia received some welcome run support from a pair of unlikely run producers in the second inning.
Picking on a less-than-sharp Verlander (1-1) with one out and Ichiro Suzuki on first, Francisco Cervelli laced a line-drive double to the wall in left-center to score Suzuki with the game’s first run. One out later, Jayson Nix, who was subbing at shortstop for Eduardo Nunez, who was subbing for Derek Jeter, cranked a fat changeup into the first row of bleachers in left-field to give the Yankees an early 3-0 lead.
It was a lead that Sabathia refused to relinquish to a deep power-laden lineup that had destroyed the Yankees the past two games.
Sabathia ended his afternoon having walked three and striking out four. It was hardly a dominant outing but it did best Verlander, who left after 7 1/3 innings having surrendered seven hits and two walks while striking out four.
The Yankees then added a pair of runs in both the eighth and ninth innings off left-hander Phil Coke and right-hander Octavio Dotel, respectively.
Suzuki touched Coke with a run-scoring fly ball in the eighth and Cervelli followed with a lined RBI single to center.
Red-hot Kevin Youkilis capped the scoring with one out in the ninth off Dotel by lacing a two-run single.
David Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth and Mariano Rivera tossed a scoreless ninth to allow the Yankees to complete the shutout of the Tigers and salvage the series finale.
The Yankees’ season record improves to 2-4. The Tigers fell to 3-3.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Sabathia hovered mostly in the 88-91 mile-per-hour range on Sunday but it was good enough to keep the Tigers at bay. The Tigers 3, 4 and 5 hitters - Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez - were a combined 0-for-9 with two strikeouts off Sabathia. More importantly Sabathia quieted the critics who ripped him after his Opening Day loss to the Boston Red Sox.
- Nix entered the game 0-for-7 with five strikeouts but he broke out of it in a big way against Verlander and Dotel. He was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Nix was pleased because he has not had much success against Verlander in the past. ”It’s great. It feels really good,” Nix said. “I haven’t had a whole lot of success off him. He is who he is, you know?”
- With Nix batting ninth, Cervelli held up his end batting seventh. He was 2-for-4 with two big RBIs. That raised Cervelli’s early-season batting average to .308.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
Every starter had at least one hit except Lyle Overbay (0-for-4), Sabathia pitched with great precision to shut down a powerful lineup and the team did not commit an error in the field. That is a reason not to dwell on any negatives in what has been a rough week for the team.
BOMBER BANTER
Nunez was unable to get back into the starting lineup on Sunday but he was able to pinch-run for Travis Hafner in the eighth inning and he scored a run. Nunez has been hampered the past two games because of a bruised right bicep he sustained when he was hit by a pitch from Tigers right-hander Doug Fister on Friday. Nunez tried to swing a bat and throw on Sunday but his right arm was still sore. He is still listed as day-to-day. . . . Most experts figured the Yankees would not succeed with a bunch of aging newcomers and journeymen starting or filling in for injured starters. But Youkilis, Hafner, Overbay, Vernon Wells, Ben Francisco and Brennan Boesch were a combined 22-for-75 (.293) with four homers and 12 RBIs in the Yankees’ first five games.
ON DECK
The Yankees boarded a flight for Cleveland late Sunday and will open a three-game series against the Indians on Monday.
Right-hander Hiroki Kuroda (0-1, 13.50 ERA) recovered from a bruised right middle finger he suffered in the second inning of his first start against the Bosox on Wednesday and will pitch for the Yankees. Kuroda is 1-1 with a 2.40 ERA in his two career starts against the Indians.
The Indians will counter with right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (0-0, 1.50 ERA). Jimenez allowed one run on three hits, walked two and struck six in six innings in his season debut against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Wednesday. He is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA lifetime against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 4:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast nationally by the MLB Network and locally by the YES Network.
A.L. King Tigers Use Prince’s Power To Slay Yanks
GAME 4
TIGERS 8, YANKEES 3
In adventure tales you can usually bank on a heroic prince coming to the rescue just when he is needed. That pretty much sums up what happened for the Tigers in their 2013 home opener at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday.
Prince Fielder blasted a pair of home runs - a three-run shot in the fifth that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead and a mammoth two-run blast in the seventh that put the game away - as Detroit picked up right where they left off in the American League Championship Series by drubbing New York in front of a paid crowd of 45,051.
Despite the fact that Tigers right-hander Doug Fister (1-0) was touched for three runs in the top of the fifth, keyed by a two-run home run off the bat of Kevin Youkilis that gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead, he was rescued by Fielder’s bat to get credit for the victory.
Fister gave up three runs on six hits, two walks, hit two batters and struck out two in five innings. Left-hander Drew Smyly pitched four perfect innings of relief to earn a save.
Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova (0-1) gave up four runs on five hits and two walks and struck out five batters in 4 2/3 innings. But the bullpen did him no favors because Boone Logan gave up Fielder’s home run in the fifth and Shawn Kelley was tagged by his home run in the seventh.
The Yankees’ early-season record is now 1-3. The Tigers are 2-2.
PINSTRIPE POSITIVES
- Youkilis blasted his first home run as a Yankee in the fifth inning after Fister had given up a one-out single to Robinson Cano that advanced Bret Gardner to third. While pitching to Youkilis, Fister uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Gardner to score and the Yankees halved the Tigers’ lead to 2-1. Then Youkilis connected on 3-1 fastball and he deposited the ball into the Tiger bullpen in left-center to give the Yankees a short-lived 3-2 lead.
- David Robertson pitched a perfect eighth inning and need only needed four pitches to record three outs. He was the only Yankee hurler on the day who did not give up a hit or a run.
NAGGING NEGATIVES
- Nova shocked reporters after the game by saying he did not believe he pitched that poorly. Though he did keep the team in the game, Nova was hardly effective. He was in three-ball counts to nine of the 21 batters he faced and threw 96 pitches with only 53 being strikes (55 percent). Nova will be on a short leash if he continues to struggle like this.
- Logan was brought in to the game specifically to face Fielder with two on and two out in the fifth and Fielder swatted his second pitch just over the wall in right to allow the Tigers to reclaim the lead. In a perfect world the Yankees would have a second left-hander because Logan is not a lefty specialist but the Yankees elected to release side-winding left-hander Clay Rapada.
- Kelley, 29, not only gave up the two-run blast by Fielder that still might be orbiting Earth, but he also gave up a long solo blast to Alex Avila in the sixth. Kelley was selected by the Yankees over veteran David Aardsma because he is capable of pitching multiple innings. I guess the Yankees’ brain trust did not realize he also is capable of surrendering multiple homers in multiple innings.
BOMBER BANTER
The Yankees injury list grew on Friday when Eduardo Nunez was forced to leave the game in the fourth inning after being struck by a pitch from Fister. Nunez thought that he might have a broken his right arm but X-rays showed only a bruised right bicep and he is listed as day-to-day. Jayson Nix took over for Nunez at shortstop and was 0-for-2.
ON DECK
The Yankees will continue their three-game series in the Motor City on Saturday.
Originally, the Yankees were scheduled to start David Phelps. But the Yankees decided they will activate right-hander Phil Hughes from the 15-day disabled list and he will make the start instead. Hughes was sidelined during all of spring training with a bulging disk in his upper back. Hughes is 5-4 with a 4.22 ERA in his career against the Tigers.
The Tigers will send right-hander Max Scherzer to the mound. Scherzer was 16-7 with a 3.74 ERA in 2012. he is 3-1 with a 3.42 ERA lifetime against the Yankees.
Game-time will be 4:05 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast nationally by FOX Sports.
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