Detroit Tigers 2012 regular season – MLB Review – Part 12
After receiving a 3-0 hammering in a three game series against the Seattle Mariners, the Detroit Tigers were looking to learn from their mistakes and put things back on the right track. Jim Leyland and company next faced the New York Yankees in a three match
series at Yankee Stadium in New York.
In Game 1 on April 27, the Tigers lost to the Yankees 6-7 in a nail biting encounter. Yankees showed great determination and pressure handling abilities to take a crucial 1-0 series lead. Although Yankees’ starting pitcher Ivan Nova had a horrible time on
the mound, relief pitchers Boone Logan, Cory Wade, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera combined to pitch three plus shut-out innings to help the Yankees prevail in a thriller.
"Get lost, get lost, get lost," Leyland said of Delmon Young who was arrested early Friday for fight at his hotel. "Do yourself a favor and get lost."
Tigers’ hard throwing ace, Justin Verlander, who won the Cy Young Award and American League Most Valuable Player Award in 2011, looked completely out of sorts as he gave up seven hits and five runs in just six innings. Relief pitchers Joaquin Benoit and
Brayan Villarreal were also unable to control the flow of the runs. Villarreal took his first loss of the season after he gave up the tie breaking single in the bottom of the ninth.
Tigers’ third baseman Miguel Cabrera and first baseman Prince Fielder provided their side with an excellent start. Cabrera singled to right and Fielder earned an RBI single to left in the third inning to put Tigers 3-1 ahead.
Alex Rodriguez and catcher Russell Martin hit back-to-back home-runs to help the Yankees come back from behind for 4-3 lead in the fifth inning. Austin Jackson and Fielder showed nerves of steel under pressure as they drove in crucial runs to restore Tigers’
two run lead.
"I'm at third. When Aviles turns around, I couldn't see it," Jeter said. "You really can't see where the ball is. I saw Alex."
However, the Yankees were determined to beat their American League rivals at their home ballpark. Raul Ibanez reached second base safely on a throwing error by left fielder Don Kelly and Mark Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly to centre in the eighth inning to
level the score 6-6.
"You're going up against one of the best pitchers in the game, and scoring runs against that guy is not easy," Martin said. "But we as a team battled, we got his pitch count up a little bit and if he made a bad pitch at a certain time, we jumped on it."
Fittingly, it was Derek Jeter who delivered the go ahead run, scoring on Alex Avila’s passed ball in the ninth.
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