The New York Yankees rally comes up short in ninth as they fall to the Detroit Tigers

The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday evening by the score of 7-5. The Yankees were down early in this game 6-1 but fought back. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and had nothing, he continues to struggle and may be out of a job soon. The Yankees bullpen did a good job, only giving up one run through 7 1/3 innings pitched. Nick Swisher hit a couple of homeruns. 
Garcia pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up six runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Clay Rapada pitched a perfect 1 1/3 innings, David Phelps pitched three innings giving up a walk and he struck out two and Cody Eppley pitched three innings giving up two hits and a run with a walk and three strikeouts. Drew Smyly picked up his first win of the season as he pitched really well. Smyly pitched six innings giving up two hits and a run with two walks and he struck out seven. Phil Coke gave up a hit and a run in one inning and Octavio Dotel pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Jose Valverde struggled to finish the game but he did finish it. He pitched an inning giving up three hits and three runs with a walk.

Derek Jeter drew a walk, Swisher had two hits and two RBI and Alex Rodriguez had a hit and drew a walk. Curtis Granderson had two hits and two RBI, Andruw Jones drew a walk and Raul Ibanez had a hit and an RBI. Ibanez had a double, Swisher had two homeruns and Granderson had a homerun. The Yankees were 2-3 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base.

Austin Jackson had a hit and drew a walk. He has had a fantastic series so far against his former team. He at least was in their minor league system. Brandon Boesch had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Miguel Cabrera had two hits and three RBI and Prince Fielder drew two walks. Andy Dirks had a hit and three RBI along with a couple of very nice catches in the outfield. Alex Avila had a hit and Jhonny Peralta had a hit. Boesch had a double, Dirks and Cabrera each had a homerun. The Tigers were 3-5 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. Jackson had a stolen base.

In the first inning Dirks hit a three run homerun to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Swisher hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the first to make it 3-1. In the second Boesch hit an RBI double and Cabrera hit a two run single and it was 6-1 Tigers. The score remained that way until the seventh when Granderson hit a solo homerun to make it 6-2. The Tigers came right back with a run in the eighth on a Cabrera solo homerun. The Yankees rallied in the ninth with a solo homerun from Swisher and a RBI single by Granderson and RBI double by Ibanez. Eric Chavez hit a long fly ball to right field for the final out that he just got under. If he hit a line drive it would have been a tying two run homerun.

The two teams have split the first two games with the Yankees winning on Friday night and the Tigers winning this game. I think the Yankees will be reevaluating their starting rotation after this game. Phelps has continued to look good also and I think it is logical to switch those two. I am not sure that the Yankees will do it though so we will have to wait and see what happens.