The Yankees lose to the Detroit Tigers 10-6

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers by the score of 10-6 on Saturday afternoon. The game took place at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida. Andy Pettitte got the start and on a day where the wind was blowing out pitched pretty well. Eduardo Nunez, Kevin Youkilis and Juan Rivera all had good days at the plate. 
Pettitte pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs with a walk and five strikeouts. Cody Eppley took the loss not recording an out and giving up five hits and five runs, Shawn Kelley pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and a run with two strikeouts and Juan Cedeno pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit.

Brett Gardner had a hit, Nunez had two hits and an RBI and Addison Maruszak had a hit. Ichiro Suzuki had a hit, Youkilis had a hit and two RBI and Jose Pirela had a hit. Rivera had three hits, Ben Francisco had two hits and three RBI and Jayson Nix had a hit. Chris Stewart had a hit, Youkilis, Rivera and Nix each hit a double. Francisco hit two homeruns and the Yankees were 2-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Nunez had a stolen base and Pettitte committed an error.

Anibel Sanchez pitched six innings giving up eight hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout. Darin Downs picked up the win pitching an inning giving up a hit and striking out two, Bruce Rondon pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout and Luke Putkonen pitched an inning giving up two hits.

Austin Jackson had an RBI, Torii Hunter had three hits and an RBI and Miguel Cabrera had a hit and two RBI. Kevin Russo had a hit and an RBI, Prince Fielder had an RBI and Quintin Berry had two hits. Victor Martinez had two hits and an RBI, Matt Tuiasosopo had a hit, RBI and drew a walk and Jhonny Peralta had two hits and an RBI. Alex Avila had three hits and an RBI, Omar Infante had a hit and Hunter hit two doubles. Avila and Martinez each hit a double and Peralta, Cabrera and Russo each hit a homerun. The Tigers were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Infante had a stolen base.

Nunez hit an RBI single in the third to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the fourth they took a 2-0 lead on a Francisco homerun. The Tigers scored to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth on a Fielder groundout. Youkilis hit a two run double in the fifth to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. The Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at four. Peralta hit a solo homerun, Jackson hit a sacrifice fly and Hunter hit an RBI double. In the seventh the Tigers scored five runs to take a 9-4 lead. Cabrera hit a two run homerun, Martinez hit an RBI double, Tuiasosopo had an RBI groundout and Avila hit an RBI single. In the eighth the Yankees scored two runs to make it a 9-6 game but then the Tigers added one and the final was 10-6.

The Yankees record dropped to 11-17 in the spring and the Tigers improved to 16-11. The Yankees will take on the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon and Detroit will play at the Mets on Sunday afternoon.