The Yankees and Granderson catch the Tigers

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 10-1 on Tuesday night. The game got out of hand late but was a close game for most of the night. A.J. Burnett started and pitched into the sixth inning effectively. He almost didn’t get out of the first inning though, the bullpen was starting to warm as Burnett struggled. He didn’t start a game for ten days and maybe that had something to do with it but whatever it was he did settle down. The offense really came to life late in the game and Curtis Granderson was the hero with two amazing catches in center field that changed the whole game and probably saved the Yankees season.
Burnett pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up one run on four hits. He walked four and struck out three, one of the walks was intentional. Soriano pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings and only threw nine pitches to get the four outs. He struck out one batter, Phil Hughes pitched a perfect innings with two strikeouts and Boone Logan struck out the side in his one inning of work. Burnett earned the victory in the game.

Derek Jeter had a hit, two RBI and a walk, Granderson had a hit and an RBI and Robinson Cano had a hit, two RBI and a walk. Alex Rodriguez had his first two hits of the series and an RBI, Mark Teixeira had a hit and Nick Swisher had a hit. Jesus Montero had two hits and an RBI, Russell Martin had two hits and a walk and Brett Gardner had two hits and an RBI. Jeter and Granderson each had a double. The Yankees were 6-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 7 men on base.

In the third inning the Yankees took a 2-0 lead on a two run double by Jeter. In the fourth inning Victor Martinez hit a solo homerun to cut the lead in half and make it 2-1. The first inning for the Yankees could have been very bad and ended their season, Burnett loaded the bases by walking three men. One of the walks was intentional and then there was a deep drive to center field that just started to take off and Granderson leapt up in the air and snaired it. If Granderson doesn’t make that catch it is at least three runs and maybe an inside the park grand slam and the whole game changes. In the fifth Granderson hit an RBI double and Rodriguez had a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 Yankees. The Yankees broke the game open in the eighth inning. There was a balk to score a run, an RBI single by Montero and an RBI single by Gardner. A wild pitch scored Montero and Cano hit a two run single. It was a 10-1 game at this point and that would be all the scoring.

The best of five series is all even now at two games each and game five will be Thursday night at Yankee Stadium. Ivan Nova will be starting against Doug Fister which was the game one matchup when the suspended game returned to play. The Yankees feel very good about playing at home and having Nova on the mound who has been their best pitcher the last couple of months. Derek Jeter had praise for Burnett, he said he got us to play on Thursday. Burnett did settle down after the first inning but Granderson deserves most of the praise, without his two spectacular catches out in center field who knows what would of happen and there would be a different story being told today. The winner of this series will move on to the ALCS to face the Texas Rangers who clinched their series over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday afternoon. If the Yankees do win and advance it will be a rematch of last years ALCS which Texas won in six games.