Yankees Blast Tigers 12-8

Looking to end their run of poor play as of late, the Yankees turned to their ace CC Sabathia to right the ship against the Detroit Tigers. He helped them do just that, in a 12-8 win.

The Yankees spotted CC a lead in the top of the first against Anibal Sanchez, as back to back singles by Eric Chavez and Curtis Granderson knocked in Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira (who reached on a hit by pitch. More on that later.) to put New York up 2-0.

In the bottom of the inning, Sabathia hit Prince Fielder with a pitch of his own. Now that both sides got a shot in on one of their opponent’s top hitters, all of this was over, right? Wrong.

Sanchez, in the top of the third inning, sent a beanball in the direction of Robinson Cano, prompting home plate umpire Tim Welke to warn both benches.

Later in the inning, the Yankees exacted their revenge with a three run home run to right field by Curtis Granderson to make the lead 5-0. This was the second time that a batter Sanchez hit had scored in the game in just three innings. That is why you do not play beanball with the Yankees. They possess too much firepower not to make you pay.

New York extended their lead further in the top of the fourth, with Nick Swisher knocking in Casey McGehee and knocking out Sanchez after just 3+ innings pitched. A Mark Teixeira sacrifice fly tacked on another run to make it 7-0.

Detroit finally cracked the scoreboard against Sabathia in the bottom of the fourth on a Brennan Boesch RBI single. They continued to claw their way back in the bottom of the sixth, pulling back two more on a two run single by Jeff Baker to make it a 7-3 game.

Ichiro legged out an infield single in the seventh, allowing Granderson to score and make the lead five for the Yankees once again. That run was cancelled out by an RBI groundout in the bottom of the inning by Fielder to make it an 8-4 game.

Once Sabathia came out, the Tigers scored again on a pinch hit RBI single by Andy Dirks. A slow roller by Boesch made it a two run game as it knocked in Delmon Young. All of a sudden, it was an 8-6 game, and the Yankees weren’t out of the inning yet. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Alex Avila sent a single to left field, scoring Dirks. A 7-0 lead was cut to 8-7.

With things getting scary for the Yankees, Teixeira helped ease things in the eighth with an RBI single to make it a two run game once again. An Eric Chavez RBI groundout made it 10-7.

Omar Infante made it 10-8 with a solo shot into the bullpen in left field, but the Tigers could get no closer with a balk by Brayan Villareal allowing Jayson Nix to score in the ninth, while Robinson Cano added an RBI single to make it a 12-8 game.

Player of the Game: Curtis Granderson (3-5, HR, 4 RBI)

What a homecoming for former Tiger Curtis Granderson. He absolutely tore it up at the plate, and his three run home run in the third put enough space between the Yankees and Tigers to allow New York to hold on late. An excellent performance by the Grandy Man.

“Good Job, Good Effort” Player of the Game: Anibal Sanchez (3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER)

Not only did he give up a lot of hits, but he also tried to be a tough guy and hit two heavy hitters for the Yankees in Teixeira and Cano. Karma certainly came back to bite him in this one. Good job, good effort, Anibal Sanchez.