[August 29, 2014]DETROIT -- Alex Avila didn't know if
the ball was gone, but he had a good idea the game was over.
Avila creamed a first-pitch slider off the right field wall --
just high enough that fast-approaching New York right fielder Ichiro
Suzuki couldn't reach it -- to score pinch-runner Bryan Holaday from
second base with two out in the ninth inning Thursday and give the
Detroit Tigers a 3-2 victory over the Yankees.
"I knew I hit it good," said Avila, who also drove in Detroit's
first run with a sacrifice fly in the second inning, "but I didn't
know if was good enough to get out.
"I thought it had a good chance to get the winning run in, though."
The ball was hit too hard for Suzuki to get in position to time a
good leap and it glanced off the wall too high for the right fielder
to intercept.
"It was really hard for me to see," Yankees manager Joe Girardi
said. "I heard the ball hit the wall. I heard (Ichiro) hit the wall.
That's all.
"That's not what (the outcome) we wanted. But you go turn the page.
Now we go to Toronto and we have to win there."
Detroit has won four of its last five, and New York dropped two of
three at Comerica Park. But attention now starts to shift to the
standings with August three days from seguing into September and the
last month of the regular season.
"You say that every game matters," Avila said, "and it's true. But
for me, it's right after the All-Star break that you really have got
to bear down and that extra concentration kicks in. You have to find
that extra motivation."
Designated hitter Victor Martinez started the winning rally when he
lined a leadoff double over the shift into the right field corner
against losing reliever right-hander Shawn Kelley (2-5). Holaday ran
for him and Kelley struck out the next two hitters before Avila hit
a deep fly that glanced high off the fence in right to drive in the
winning run. He was credited with a single.
"You feel good about the game with him on the mound," Girardi said,
"especially with the way he's been pitching lately. The pitch Avila
hit was a slider that didn't exactly go where he wanted it to go."
Left-hander Phil Coke (2-2) picked up the win in relief. He entered
with a man on first, gave up a single and then a long foul liner
into the seats in right to catcher Brian McCann. That came on a
fastball, but Coke followed with two well-placed mid-90s fastballs
to end the threat with a strikeout.
Rookie left-hander Kyle Lobstein, making his first major league
start and his second appearance, allowed four hits in his six
innings for Detroit, with one of his two runs unearned.
The Tigers announced immediately after the game that Lobstein was
being optioned to Triple-A Toledo and reliever Evan Reed was being
recalled to help Detroit get through a weekend series of four games
in three days in Chicago against the White Sox.
The Tigers also said rookie lefty Kyle Ryan was coming up from Double-A
Erie to pitch in one of the two games of Saturday's doubleheader.
Right-hander Hiroki Kuroda went the first seven innings for New York,
allowing two runs and four hits with four strikeouts.
"He gave us a chance to win," Girardi said. "It's just unfortunate we
didn't have luck on our side.
"It's funny. I thought we swung the bats better than we did (Wednesday
night). One inning, we hit three line drives, but they all were outs."
The score was 2-2 from the fifth inning when the Tigers tied it on an
RBI single to right by center fielder Rajai Davis. The Yankees broke a
1-1 tie in the fourth when McCann grounded out to second with runners on
first and third and one out.
New York had tied the score 1-1 on center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury's
single to center. Detroit scored in the second on Avila's sacrifice fly
to deep center.
NOTES: RHP Masahiro Tanaka threw a 49-pitch simulated game Thursday "and
feels like it wasn't there. But there was no pain." Infielder Brendan
Ryan, who batted against Tanaka, said "he could get people out with that
stuff right now." New York wants Tanaka built up to 75 pitches before he
returns. ... Detroit RHP Luke Putkonen, out since April 19 with a bad
right elbow, began a rehab assignment Thursday with Class A West
Michigan. ... If the Yankees get four more new players into a game
during the remainder of the season, they will tie the club mark of 56
used, set last year. ... Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said "I have nothing
to tell you" about who will be joining the club when rosters expand
Sept. 1. He indicated nothing would be announced until week's end.
