The Tigers pitching continued to serve up long balls Saturday in New York as the Yankees put up a 10 spot to hand the Tigers their second consecutive loss to start the season. A three run shots by Mark Texiera and Russell Martin were too much for the Tigers to overcome in a 10-6 loss at Yankee Stadium.
Tiger’s starter Brad Penny gave up three runs in the first inning, “no thanks” to his defense. After Penny retired the first batter, Will Rhymes couldn’t make a tough play on a ground ball by Jeter, who ended up scoring on a double by Alex Rodriguez. After a walk to Texiera, Jhonny Peralta booted a ground ball to short by Cano as Texiera scored and A-Rod moved to third. Nick Swisher hit a sac fly to left field, scoring Rodriguez and the Yanks jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the 2nd, the Tigers had a chance to strike back and failed in typical Tigers fashion. Miguel Cabrerra, lead of with a double and was stranded there. Victor Martinez and Brennan Boesch struck out back to back and Peralta flied out to Granderson to end the threat. Bad luck struck Penny again in the second. With 1 out and Bret Gardner on 2nd, Jeter hit a ground ball to short and Peralta’s attempt to throw out Gardener at 3rd was unsuccessful. Instead of 2 outs and 1 on, there were men on first and third with 1 out. Mark Texiera would make the Tigers pay as he went deep for a three run jack for the second straight game to put the Yanks up 6-0.
The Tigers were able to cut the lead in half by the top of the fifth inning, but should have gotten more. After back to back singles to start the inning, Alex Avila scored Brennan Boesch on a ground ball through the infield. The Tigers eventually had the bases loaded with 1 out, but were only able to get one more across on a fielder’s choice ground ball by Rhymes. Ordonez struck out swinging to end the threat.
Just as the Tigers seemed to be in business, the long ball bit them again. Penny was pulled in the bottom half of the 5th with two runners on. Brad Thomas came in to get Granderson to ground out, but with 2 outs, served up a no doubt, three run homer to Russell Martin and the Tigers were down 9-3.
Penny allowed 7 hits, 4 walks and 8 runs in just 4 1/3 innings in his first regular season start as a Tiger. Penny didn’t look particularly sharp, but I think things might have been different had a couple plays went his way. But hey, that’s baseball. Penny knows you just have to have to put it behind you and move on, “It’s over with. My work begins again tomorrow morning.”
On a positive note, Austin Jackson matched his homerun total from last year with one in the 3rd inning and Victor Martinez hit his first homerun as a Tiger with a 2 run shot in the 8th. Also, the Tigers bullpen didn’t allow a hit past the 6th inning.
The Tigers will wrap up the series with the Yanks today at 1:05. Max Sherzer will make his first start of the season and will be looking to bounce back after a disastrous final outing of the preseason. The Yankees will counter with RHP Phil Hughes.
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