The Yankees and Tigers combined for six home runs last night but Detroit wound up on the short end of the stick, losing to New York 9-5. Mark Teixeira got things going early with a two-run bomb in the first inning, Robinson Cano followed that up with a back-to-back shot and Curtis Granderson hit a solo shot for the second straight night, continuing his recent hot stretch.
Dustin Moseley was serviceable but not great for the second straight start (5 IP, 4 ER), and it seems as though his Aaron Small/Shawn Chacon pixie dust may be running out. I can live with Moseley turning in outings like these, but if it gets any worse it’s going to get ugly, especially with the uncertainty surrounding Javier Vazquez.
Five members of the Yankee bullpen strung together four innings of one-run ball, with perhaps the biggest performance of the night coming from Kerry Wood, who wriggled out of a one-out bases loaded situation in the top of the seventh while it was still a three-run ballgame with two huge strikeouts.
Additional props to Austin Kearns, who seems to be getting more and more comfortable in a Yankee uniform. Kearns barely missed a grand slam, instead blasting a ground-rule double with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th to give the Yankees a couple of big insurance runs. Kearns has a .401 wOBA as a Yankee (and will likely be higher once his 2B and BB from last night’s game are accounted for), and while that’s in a minuscule 27 plate-appearance sample, it’s still impressive. The only Yankee with a better wOBA this month is Marcus Thames (.431), while the third-highest mark belongs to Derek Jeter (.350).
The Yankees have now ensured at least a split of the series, and really need to go for the kill this afternoon against Rick Porcello.
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