New York Yankees 2012 regular season review – Part 21
After securing a superb win in the opener of a three match series against the Detroit Tigers, the New York Yankees were looking in a confident mood. With home conditions working in their favour, Joe Girardi and his men had an excellent chance to wrap up
another important series win in the American League but that did not turn out to be the case.
The Tigers played out of their skins to level up the series 1-1 on April 28. Starting pitcher Drew Smyly had one of his career best nights as he allowed just two hits and one run in six solid innings to grab his first win of the season.
Striking out batters at regular intervals, he kept Yankees on the defensive for most part of the game. Tigers’ entered the ninth inning with a substantial lead but closer Jose Valverde conceded three hits and three runs in the final inning to give Yankees
a chance to claim a superb come back from behind victory.
"He really pitched like a veteran pitcher to be honest with you," Leyland said in a post game interview. "Not a lot of guys can do that. Guys pitch a long time and can't do that."http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/5544/miguel-cabrera”Smyly (1-0) gave up a leadoff single to Alex Rodriguez in the seventh and Leyland pulled him immediately for lefty Phil Coke rather than have him face the rest of the Yankees lineup a third time. Coke got Mark Teixeira to hit into a 1-6-3 double play.
Smyly finished with two hits and two walks in six-plus innings. He struck out seven”, ESPN.com reported.
Nonetheless, the held his nerves under pressure to help his side prevail 7-5. Yankees’ starter Freddy Garcia had a horrendous time on the mound as he allowed five hits and six runs in just over an inning to take his second straight loss of the season. Rest
of the bullpen combined to give up just one run in seven plus innings but the Tigers eventually reached home with a two run lead.
Andy Dirks and Miguel Cabrera both smacked home runs to help the Tigers post a decent total on the board.
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