Detroit Tigers' offense sputters in 5-1 loss to Yankees in New York
Save for one inning, the Detroit Tigers' offense could only get things started in New York on Tuesday night.
The Yankees, meanwhile, had plenty to finish things off in the Tigers' 5-1 loss in the Bronx, ending their four-game winning streak.
Kerry Carpenter had two hits, including a triple, and scored the Tigers' lone run. Javier Báez had three hits, all singles. Detroit had four other hits, all singles (Akil Baddoo, Spencer Torkelson, Miguel Cabrera and Andre Lipcius).
Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton both had two RBIs for the Yankees and Aaron Judge drew three walks.
The Tigers (63-75) tied the game in the sixth inning, thanks to a Carpenter leadoff triple into the right field corner. Miguel Cabrera, in his final series at Yankee Stadium, followed with an RBI single to right.
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Cabrera, whom the Yankees honored in a pregame ceremony, was then lifted for pinch-runner Tyler Nevin.
But the Yankees responded in the bottom of the sixth. With a runner on first and one out, the Tigers replaced left-hander Joey Wentz in favor of righty Jose Cisnero to face the next few right-handers in the lineup. Torres hit a grounder to third, but the Lipcius-McKinstry-Torkelson combination couldn't get the double play. Then with two outs, Stanton hit a 451-foot shot to left for a two-run homer, his 400th career home run.
“That’s what they do, they walk and hit homers. And they took advantage of it today,” Tigers catcher Jake Rogers said.
Stanton, the 2017 NL MVP, reached 400 homers in 1,520 career games — fourth-fastest in major league history behind Mark McGwire (1,412), Babe Ruth (1,475) and Alex Rodriguez (1,489). Albert Pujols is fifth at 1,523.
“Big number. Just celebrated that moment with him, and coming in a big spot – tie game late,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “A very G-esque ball that no one really hits like that. An absolute missile.”
LeMahieu, the former Birmingham Brother Rice star, opened the bottom of the first with a fly ball to right that would likely be an out in most other ballparks in the majors. But at Yankee Stadium, it was deep enough for an opposite-field home run.
Alex Faedo, who's settling into a bullpen role for the Tigers, started the game but went just 2⅔ innings and allowed an earned run on three hits and a walk while striking out four over 40 pitches.
Will Vest did not allow a baserunner over 1⅓ innings, striking out two. Wentz (2-11) also pitched 1⅓ innings, yielding one earned run on a hit and two walks.
Gerrit Cole (13-4) pitched six innings, giving up an earned run on eight hits (seven singles) and striking out seven over 104 pitches. He now leads all American League starters with a 2.90 ERA.
Tommy Kahnle, Jonathan Loáisiga and Clay Holmes combined for three innings of one-hit relief.
The Tigers threatened to score in the top of the first when Torkelson and Carpenter delivered back-to-back two-out singles, placing runners at the corners. But Cabrera grounded into a force out to end the threat.
In the fifth inning, the Tigers again put two runners on after a leadoff single by Baez and a one-out single by Baddoo. But McKinstry struck out and Torkelson flied out to right, keeping Detroit off the scoreboard.
The Yankees added two more runs in the eight inning off Brendan White. After a Judge walk, Jasson Dominguez, the Yankees' prized prospect, doubled to put runners in scoring position. Then, Torres doubled to left to drive in both runners.
White (two earned runs, two hits, a walk and a strikeout) replaced Miguel Diaz, who struck out two in a perfect seventh inning.
Mike Fitzpatrick of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Next up: Yankees
Matchup: Tigers (63-75) at N.Y. Yankees (69-69).
First pitch: 7:05 p.m. Wednesday; Yankee Stadium, New York.
TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).
Probable pitchers: Tigers — RHP Matt Manning (5-4, 3.62 ERA); Yankees — RHP Clarke Schmidt (8-8, 4.56).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' offense sputters in 5-1 loss to Yankees in New York
