Detroit Tigers 2012 regular season review – Part 30
After suffering an embarrassing 1-3 series defeat against the Boston Red Sox, the Detroit Tigers were hoping to put things back on the winning track in their next series against the New York Yankees but that did not turn out to be the case.
The Yankees annihilated the Tigers 9-4 in Game 1 on June 1, 2012. Starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia produced a match winning performances for New York as he gave up just three runs in seven solid innings to claim his seventh win of the season.
Relief pitchers Cody Eppley, Boone Logan, Cory Wade, Clay Rapada and Rafael Soriano combined to concede just one run in two innings of relief to help the Yankees hold on to their lead. Soriano, in particular, showed nerves of steel under pressure to make
his seventh save of the season.
Tigers’ starter Casey Crosby had no answer to the Yankees’ onslaught as he allowed four hits and six runs in just over three innings to take his first loss of the season. Relief pitchers Brayan Villarreal and Octavio Dotel also struggled to execute their
game plan, giving up three runs in just two innings of relief.
Captain Derek Jeter walked in the second inning to put Yankees on the board. However, it was Curtis Granderson who dented Tigers’ confidence levels with a grand slam in the second inning, stretching Yankees’ lead to 5-1.
Ramon Santiago and Prince Fielder made valuable contributions in the third inning as the Tigers reduced their deficit to 3-5 but the night belonged to the Yankees who scored runs on regular basis to register a comfortable victory.
Alex Rodriguez, who smacked a two run home-run to left centre in the bottom of the ninth to wrap up an impressive win for his team.
Tigers fought back superbly in Game 2 at Comerica Park, thanks to relief pitcher Jose Valverde who successfully held off the Yankees to grab his third win of the season.
"That was a lot of footage, to say the least," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.
"I've played a lot of games here, and I don't even believe it is 420 out there -- it is 420 at other places, and it never seems as big as it does here," said New York centre fielder Curtis Granderson, a former Tiger. "I know I've never seen anyone put two
balls where he put those two balls tonight. I've seen one or two near the camera well, but that wasn't in a game, and I've never seen anything land where the first one went."
Starting pitcher Rick Porcello also had a decent time on the mound as he allowed just one run in six sharp innings. His counterpart from New York, Hiroki Kuroda gave up seven hits in a low scoring contest.
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