The fairy tale is back on.
Curtis Granderson tripled to deep left in the top of the seventh inning to knock in Marcus Thames (3 for 4, two runs scored and an RBI) to break a 3-3 tie and give Detroit a 4-3 lead. The lead was all the Tigers needed as their bullpen shut the door on the Yankees in the final three innings to escape New York with a 1-1 series tie after losing Game 1 Tuesday night.
21-year-old rookie flamethrower Joel Zumaya pitched 1.2 innings and struck out three out of the five batters he faced (and that included Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez) to set the table for closer Todd Jones in the ninth. After Jones gave up a leadoff single to Hideki Matsui, Jones retired the final three batters – including getting Johnny Damon to fly out to short center to end the game.
Earlier in the contest, Damon hit a blast that wrapped around the right field foul pole for a three-run homer. It would be the only runs the powerful Yankee lineup would put on the board, however. In fact, they only managed two hits throughout the rest of the game after Damon’s homerun.
Mike Mussina (0-1) pitched seven innings, gave up eight hits and all four of the runs scored by the Tigers. Jamie Walker (1-0) got the victory by getting Robinson Cano to ground into an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the sixth. Walker relieved starter Justin Verlander (0-0), who kept Detroit in the ballgame before coming out in the middle of the fifth inning.
The series now shifts to Detroit on Friday, where the Tigers were 46-35 at Comerica Park in the regular season. The Yankees will throw Randy Johnson (0-0) against the Tigers’ Kenny Rogers (0-0).
