Paul Sancya/AP
DETROIT - Three weeks ago, the Yankees pushed the Tigers around at Yankee Stadium. Tuesday night, the Tigers pushed back.
Rick Porcello - who lost a 1-0 duel with Shane Greene during that first series - pitched the Tigers to a 5-2 victory at Comerica Park to kick off this crucial three-game series between the two AL wild card contenders.
The loss snapped the Yankees' five-game winning streak, preventing them from moving eight games over .500 for the first time all season. It also dropped them three games behind the Tigers and Mariners, though Seattle had a late game against Texas on the west coast Tuesday night.
Brandon McCarthy had his worst start as a Yankee, allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks over 6.1 innings.
Porcello held the Yankees to two runs over eight innings - both on solo home runs by Jacoby Ellsbury - scattering nine hits as he joined teammate Max Scherzer as the only 15-game winners in the AL.
Joe Nathan closed out the game for the Tigers, earning his 28th save.
After beating the first-place Royals in a makeup game Monday night to start their seven-game road trip, the Yankees came to Detroit having won five straight games to move seven games over .500, both matching their season-highs.
Paul Sancya/AP
They had their hottest pitcher on the mound and had scored 15 runs over the past two games, only the second time all year they had seven-or-more runs in consecutive games.
'I think they feel pretty good about themselves, but the thing about baseball is you've got to go do it every day,' Joe Girardi said before the game. 'It starts with your starting pitcher that night, and I don't know how you could for any more (than) what Brandon McCarthy has done, but we need him to continue to pitch like this.'
McCarthy has assumed the ace role since Masahiro Tanaka went down with a torn elbow ligament, entering Tuesday with a 5-2 record and 1.90 ERA since joining the Yankees. His ERA was the lowest for any pitcher in his first eight outings with the Bombers since Jimmy Key posted a 1.79 ERA in his first eight outings after joining the team in 1993.
The righthander was coming off his best game of the season, a four-hit shutout last Thursday against the Astros. Unfortunately, he followed it up with his worst.
The Tigers pounced on McCarthy in the second inning, getting some rare help from the pitcher himself. J.D. Martinez opened the inning with a single, then McCarthy walked Nick Castellanos.
One out later, McCarthy drilled Eugenio Suarez to load the bases, then walked No. 9 hitter Rajai Davis to force in the game's first run. McCarthy escaped further damage by getting Ian Kinsler to hit the next pitch for an inning-ending double play.
Rick Osentoski/USA Today Sports
The two walks in the inning were the biggest surprise, as McCarthy had walked one or zero batters in 19 of his 26 starts this season. In his past three starts, the tall righthander had struck out seven-or-more batters while issuing one-or-fewer walks.
Detroit struck again in the third as Miguel Cabrera doubled with one out, scoring on J.D. Martinez's two-out single to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Ellsbury cut the lead in half with a solo shot off Porcello in the fifth, his 12th of the season.
McCarthy retired the Tigers in order in the fourth and fifth, but he found himself in trouble again in the sixth after Victor Martinez singled and J.D. Martinez doubled. Castellanos followed with a single to center, scoring both runners to boost the lead to 4-1 as McCarthy allowed more than two runs for only the second time in his nine Yankee starts.
Ellsbury's home run was the lone blemish on Porcello during the first seven innings, but the center fielder struck again in the eighth with another solo shot. In his last eight games, Ellsbury is 15-for-31 (.484) with three home runs, seven RBI and four stolen bases.
Posted by Unknown on Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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