Game 113: Yankees tasked with facing Justin Verlander

The Yankees and Tigers continue their four game series at Yankee Stadium this week with another matchup tonight. The two teams have split the first two games of the season after the Tigers won last night's contest, 4-3, in 12 innings.

Each of the Yankees’ last 16 games has been decided by two-or-fewer runs - they're 9-7 over the stretch. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marks the franchise’s longest such streak of games with a final margin of no more than two runs -- previous high was 12 consecutive games from 9/10-20/1904.

These close games also go along, for the most part, with the common theme of the Yankees' season: good pitching, with a dominating bullpen, but the offense isn't doing much to hold up it's end of the bargain.

Tonight's lineup against Detroit:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Carlos Beltran
C Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
2B Stephen Drew
RF Martin Prado

Pitching matchup preview:

And on the hill tonight for the Yankees is lefty-hander Chris Capuano, who will be making his third start for the Yankees since coming over in a trade with the Colorado Rockies.

Capuano made his second start with the Bombers last weekend in Boston, giving up four runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, as the Yankees fell to the Red Sox in another close game, 4-3.

Capuano has won both of his career starts against Detroit, despite posting a 6.00 ERA in those outings. Overall, he is 2-0 with a 6.43 ERA all time vs. the Tigers (four appearances, two starts).

For the third straight night, the Yankees will be facing a former Cy Young winner when the 2012 recipient, Justin Verlander, takes the mound this evening.

Verlander is having a down year for what we're use to seeing out of him, but he's coming off of a very good outing, against the Rockies last weekend, when he gave up two runs in eight hits in eight innings of work. Regardless, he's Justin Verlander and still worth fearing.

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