The Yankees faced a daunting task in the series opener against the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers came in red hot, having won
their last eight games at Comerica Park, plus Detroit was 22-11 in their
last 33 games overall. To compound the problem for New York, they were
facing Tiger ace, Justin Verlander. Verlander came into the game with
some impressive numbers of his own. His ERA stood at 2.63 and his WHIP
was a meager 0.98. Equally impressive, Verlander had yielded an
opponents batting average of only .201 on the season.
Verlander started the game with a strong effort,
yielding only three Yankee hits in the first four innings. He seemed
comfortable throwing 92-95 mph on his fastball. Evidently Joe Girardi
thought Verlander was also getting some help from home plate umpire Tony
Randazzo. In the middle of the third inning, Girardi went jaw to jaw
with Randazzo after Raul Ibanez and Russell Martin had questioned the
umpire's strike calling during their respective at bats. Meanwhile,
Yankee starter Ivan Nova was a bit shaky through four, having allowed
two solo home runs, the first to Prince Fielder in the 3rd inning and
then a 454-foot monster shot off the bat of Miguel Cabrera in the
fourth.
Trailing 2-0 entering the fifth inning, the Yankees
mounted a rally against Verlander. Eric Chavez led off the inning with a
double to left field. Following strikeouts by Ichiro Suzuki and
Russell Martin, Curtis Granderson reached first courtesy of a Verlander
error. The Yankees made Verlander pay for his transgression with back
to back RBI singles from Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano to tie the game
at 2-2. Verlander rallied to strike out Mark Teixeira to end the
inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Nova allowed five consecutive Detroit hits to
start the inning. The Tigers put up three runs as Alex Avila and Jhonny
Peralta scored on hits by Omar Infante and Austin Jackson. The third
run scored on a sacrifice fly by Andy Dirks. The inning could have been
even worse but lead-off hitter Delmon Young who singled to start the
inning was erased by Martin and Jeter on a caught stealing. The Tigers
still led 5-2 entering the bottom of the sixth, but Nova imploded again
by allowing three more hits in succession to Brennan Boesch, Delmon
Young and Alex Avila. Boesch scored on Avila's hit and Nova was out of
the game with the Yankees down 6-2.
Joba Chamberlain relieved Nova, immediately yielded a
hit to Peralta, and the Yankees were down 7-2 and appeared to be
finished going to the seventh. All seven runs were charged to Nova who
lasted only 68 pitches into the game. By the seventh inning, Verlander
had upped the velocity on his fastball, throwing 98 mph on his 107th
pitch of the game.
Justin Verlander made sure the Yankees were done by
pitching eight strong innings, throwing 132 pitches (96 for strikes),
and striking out 14 Yankee hitters. Verlander's fastball topped out at
100 mph on his 130th pitch of the evening. He struck out Curtis
Granderson, Mark Teixeira, and Ichiro Suzuki three times each for nine
of his 14 strikeouts. Ichiro was also held hitless in the game and his
Yankee hitting streak ends on a night that was totally dominated by
Verlander's performance.
Jose Valverde closed the night for Detroit by retiring
the Yanks in order in the ninth inning. Otherwise, Verlander's effort
allowed the tired Detroit bullpen a night of rest. The only Yankee
bright spot was Eric Chavez who had two doubles and single off
Verlander.
The sad final on Monday night was Detroit 7 - New York 2.
--Frank Gentry, BYB Writer
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