Yankees 8, Tigers 4: Shane Greene dominates after Yankees chase David Price early

Baseball is a very weird game sometimes, you guys.

Facing former Cy Young winner David Price one night after getting just two runs over eight innings against Rick Porcello, the Yankees knocked Price out of the game with nobody out in the 3rd inning after collecting nine straight hits, as they would go on to beat the Tigers, 8-4, on Wednesday night in Detroit.

Price gave up three singles in the first two innings, but the Yankees weren't able to put any runs on the board. At least until the 3rd inning came around, when the Yankees collected nine straight base hits to open the inning.

Jacoby Ellsbury singled to lead off then stole second base before Derek Jeter doubled down the right field lineup, putting the Yankees up 1-0. Martin Prado singled, Mark Teixeira doubled home Jeter, moving Prado to third. Carlos Beltran singled home Prado, then Brian McCann singled home Teixeira. Chase Headley singled to load the bases, then Brett Gardner reached on an infield single to score Beltran, then Francisco Cervelli drove in McCann on a single to left field, making a 6-0 game.

Price left with nobody out and the bases loaded in the 3rd inning. None of the secondary pitches were working for him, and the Yankees were taking full advantage of it. He gave up eight runs on 12 hits in two-plus innings.

Detroit was forced to go to it's bullpen far earlier than expected, but the Yankees still added to the score, scoring two more runs on back-to-back sac-fly's by Ellsbury and Jeter, extending the lead to 8-0.

That gave Yankees starter Shane Greene more than enough room to work with, as if he really even needed it.

Greene didn't give up a hit until Torii Hunter singled to open the 4th inning. Miguel Cabrera doubled a batter later to drive him home, putting the Tigers on the board to close to gap -- just a little bit -- to 8-1. A couple innings later, Victor Martinez, crushed his 26th homerun of the year to make it an 8-2 game.

That was all the Tigers were able to get against Greene, who was dealing. The young right-hander went seven strong innings, giving up just the two runs on five hits, striking out eight and walking just one on 101 pitches.

Adam Warren gave up a run in the 8th inning after issuing a one-out walk to Martinez, then giving up an RBI triple to Nick Castellanos. Dellin Betances finished off the 9th inning, giving up a run on a couple of two-out hits, to close out the Yankees' sixth win in their last seven games.

The Yankees and Tigers will finish up this three-game series on Thursday afternoon at 1:08 p.m. ET. Hiroki Kuroda will be on the mound for the Bombers, facing off with Kyle Lobstein.

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Game 131: Brett Gardner returns

The Yankees and Tigers continue their three-game series tonight at Comerica Park. Detroit took the opener last night on the strength of eight innings of two-run ball from starter Rick Porcello, who was giving the Yankees fits all night.

The only high note in the game for New York was the two solo homeruns hit by Jacoby Ellsbury, who has hit three dingers in his last two games.

Tonight's lineup against Detroit:

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

Pitching matchup:

Shane Greene gets the ball for the Bombers tonight, as the Tigers will trot out David Price to face the Yankees for the since time since being traded to Detroit on July 31.

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Game 130: Going for six straight

The Yankees continue their road trip with a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers that starts tonight at Comerica Park. New York enters on a five-game winning streak, their highest of the season, after taking down one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Kansas City Royals, 8-1 last night, bringing them to within 2.5 games of the second wild card spot.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the Yankees and Tigers. The two teams met about three weeks ago at Yankee Stadium, when the Yankees took three of the four games.

Detroit just split a four game series with the Minnesota Twins over the weekend, and are currently 1.5 games back of the first place Royals in the AL Central.

Tonight's lineup against Detroit:

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

Pitching matchup: Brandon McCarthy vs Rick Porcello

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Game 114: The big and mean Greene Machine

The Yankees and Tiger conclude their four-game series in the Bronx this afternoon with a matinee matchup at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees have won two of the first three games of the series so far, winning Wednesday night's game 5-1 -- the first game decided by more than two runs that the Yankees have played in since July 19.

The Yankees have won four of their last five games, playing better baseball lately, and it's mostly because of their strong pitching staff, which has been performing very well since the All-Star break, even with the ridiculous amount of injuries.

Today's lineup against Detroit:

LF Brett Gardner
3B Martin Prado
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Chase Headley
SS Stephen Drew
C Francisco Cervelli
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brendan Ryan

Pitching matchup preview:

With an actual defense behind him today, Shane Greene takes the mound for the Yankees this afternoon, making his sixth start of the season in the big leagues.

Greene is coming off of a sub-par start against the Boston Red Sox last weekend, giving up three early runs before battling back to get through 4 2/3 inning, taking home a no-decision.

Rick Porcello gets the ball for Detroit in today's series finale, becoming the first non-Cy Young winner to face the Yankees this week, following up Max Scherzer, David Price, and Justin Verlander.

Porcello, though, has pitched like a Cy Young winner for the Tigers lately, going 5-1 with a sub-2.00 ERA over his last seven starts. However, he comes into today's game 0-1 with an ERA of 8.10 in two career starts at Yankee Stadium.

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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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Yankees 3, Tigers 4 (F/12): Yankees waste good effort by Hiroki Kuroda, losing in extra innings

Facing a former Cy Young winner for the second straight night, the Yankees held a 3-1 lead for most of the night before the Detroit Tigers came back to tie the game in the 7th, as they would go on to beat the Yankees, 4-3, on the power of an Alex Avila homerun in the 12th inning on Tuesday night in the Bronx.

Hiroki Kuroda's night did not get off to the best of starts, giving up hits to two of the first three batters of the game to set up runners on the corners with no out for Victor Martinez, who put the Tigers up 1-0 just four batters in with a sac-fly left.

Miguel Cabrera had the second hit off of Kuroda in that first inning, but after that, the Yankees' ace-by-default was on top of his game, retiring 14 in-a-row before Andrew Romine, the brother of Yankees catcher Austin Romine, opened the 5th inning with a solo homerun.

The Yankees scored three straight runs off of Tigers starter David Price, who was making his debut for Detroit, after falling behind 1-0 in the 1st inning.

Brian McCann tied the game in the 2nd inning with a solo homerun off of Price, his 12th homerun of the season -- third against Price this year. The Yankees added another run an inning later after Brendan Ryan opened with a double into the right-center field gap. Brett Gardner moved him over with a sac-bunt a batter later, then after a Derek Jeter groundout, Jacoby Ellsbury slapped a double down the left field line to score Ryan, putting the Yankees ahead 2-1.

New York added their third and final run of the game two innings later, in the 5th, when Martin Prado connected for his first homerun as a Yankee, sending a ball into the left field seats against Price, extending the Bombers' lead to 3-1.

After Romine's homerun in that made it a 3-2 game, the Tigers were able to tie the game against Kuroda in the 7th. Martinez reached on an infield single to kick things off, then moved to second base a couple batters later on a two-out single by Nick Castellanos. Avila followed with an RBI single into right that scored the tying run.

Kuroda was done after seven innings; he gave up three runs on six hits, striking out five without walking anybody on 91 pitches (58 strikes).

From there, Joe Girardi just started burning through his bullpen. Dellin Betances struck out two in a scoreless 8th inning, including Cabrera on a 100 mph fastball to end the inning -- it was also Betances' 100th strikeout of the season. Betances got the first out of the 9th before hitting Torii Hunter with a pitch, causing Girardi to again to to the bullpen.

Girardi brought in Shawn Kelley, who, after a past ball got by McCann, moving Hunter's pinch-runner to second base, got two big groundball outs to end the inning.

Carlos Beltran put the Yankees in business to win the game in the 9th inning, opening up with a single against Price, who was still in the game. But the lefty ace battled back to retire the next to hitters before Tigers manager Brad Asmus made the call to bring in the former Yankee, Joba Chamberlain, to get the final out of the 9th, which he did -- full beard and all -- striking out Prado, with a big fist pump following shortly after.

Price, overall, dominated. He struck out 10 while giving up just three runs on eight hits without walking a batter, throwing 112 pitches.

David Huff got the first two outs of the 10th inning for Girardi before he went to Esmil Rodgers to get the next three outs, taking him to two outs in the 11th, where he brought in Rich Hill for his Yankees debut after being called up on Tuesday. That didn't last long, he let Martinez steal second then he hit the only batter he faced with a pitch, ending his night after just four pitches.

Girardi then went to Matt Daley, who recorded the final out of the 11th inning before eventually giving up the go-ahead homerun to Avila in the 12th.

The Yankees didn't really have any chances to win the game in extra-innings. Joba hit Jeter with a pitch with two outs in the 10th, but that turned into nothing. The most exciting thing -- which was really nothing in the end -- was Chase Headley coming within just a few feet of hitting a game-tying homerun off of Joe Nathan in the 12th.

The Yankees will see yet another former Cy Young will on Wednesday night when they face Justin Verlander at 7:05 p.m. ET. Left-hander Chris Capuano will be on the hill for the Yankees.

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Game 112: David Price's Tigers debut

The Yankees will look to extend their winning streak to four games tonight with the second of four games against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium this week.

New York took the first game of this series on Monday night with a close 2-1 victory over reigning Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer, who suffered just his 4th loss of the season after giving up two runs in the 3rd inning -- the only runs he gave up in seven innings of work.

Back by the Yankees' strong bullpen, Brandon McCarthy picked up his 4th win in pinstripes. The ballgame was closed out by David Robertson, who pitched for the third straight night to earn his 30th save of the season. Robertson has been everything that the Yankees could ask for this season replacing Mariano Rivera. Brian Cashman really needs to give him his contract extension already before he becomes a free-agent this winter.

Speaking of D-Rob, it's pretty safe to say that he won't be available tonight after pitching three consecutive days. Joe Girardi hinted to reporters that it might be Dellin Betances pitching in the 9th inning tonight.

Tonight's lineup vs Detroit:

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

Pitching matchup preview:

Yankees 'ace' Hiroki Kuroda gets the ball tonight. He's coming off of a loss in his last outing against the Texas Rangers last week despite pitching well. Kuroda went seven innings, allowing three runs on nine hits while throwing a season-high 115 pitches.

Kuroda has only given up more than four runs in a start one this season, and will probably need to be on top of his game again tonight going up against the Tigers' new All-Star starter.

Yes, David Price will be making his Tigers debut tonight after being traded to Detroit last week. The lefty, who was 11-8 with a 3.11 ERA this season for Tampa Bay before the trade, has seen a lot of the Yankees in his career pitching for the Rays.

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Yankees 2, Tigers 1: Pitching staff dominates in close win over Detroit

Scoring runs has been a problem for the Yankees all season long, and the odds were not on their side coming into Monday night as they had to face Max Scherzer, the first of three former Cy Young winners they'll see over the next three day. The Yankees only scored two runs, but it was enough for them to down the Detroit Tigers, 2-1, in a close pitchers' duel at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees got their runs early against Scherzer giving starter Brandon McCarthy a 2-0 lead in the 3rd inning. Ichiro Suzuki, Brett Gardner, and Derek Jeter opened the bottom of the 3rd with three straight singles to load the bases, then a batter later, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a sac-fly to center field, scoring Ichiro for the game's first run. Carlos Beltran lined out to second, then Brian McCann hit an RBI single into right field that made it a 2-0 game.

Detroit didn't grab a run back until Ian Kinsler put them on the board with an RBI single in the 5th inning off of McCarthy to make it a 2-1 game.

That was the only run the Tigers were able to get off of McCarthy, and the rest of the pitching staff for that matter, and it wasn't even earned -- a throwing error by Martin Prado at third base put the scoring running on. McCarthy ran into danger in the 3rd inning, loading the bases with just one out, but he got out of it unharmed by striking out the next two hitters to end the inning.

He gave up five hits, walked two, and struck out eight on 116 pitches in 5.2 innings, picking up his 4th win since joining the Yankees in early July.

Scherzer was good, too, for the Tigers, but he wasn't good enough to beat McCarthy and the Yankees, giving up the two runs in nine hits, with three walks and four strikeouts in seven innings, throwing 115 pitches.

The game was left in the hands of the bullpen when Joe Girardi, who captured his 700th career win as a manager in this game, pulled McCarthy with two outs in the 6th. Matt Thornton needed three pitches to get the final out of the 6th. Adam Warren gave up just a single in a scoreless 7th inning, ahead of Shawn Kelley who one-upped that with a three up, three down 8th.

All of that leading up to David Robertson, who making going for the save in the third straight game for the Yankees. The right-hander needed just 11 pitches in the 9th, striking out the final two batters of the game to lock down his 30th save of the season.

The parade of Cy Youngs continues on Tuesday night, when David Price makes his Tigers debut, facing off with Hiroki Kuroda at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Game 111: Facing Cy Young

After six games on the road against last place clubs, the Yankees are back home in Bronx where they welcome the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers for a four game series that kicks off tonight at 7:05 p.m. in Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees return home after going 3-3 on that trip, which made stops in Texas and Boston. New York dropped three of the first four games before taking the final two games against the Red Sox over the weekend, including a 8-7 win last night at Fenway Park.

Detroit, meanwhile, comes in town town boasting one of the best offenses in baseball, scoring 4.74 runs per game. The Tigers are coming off of a three game sweep of the Colorado Rockies after dropping five of six games heading into that series over the weekend.

With the Tigers coming into Yankee Stadium, Yankees fans might get a chance to see Joba Chamberlain pitch against in the Bronx. The former Yankees reliever signed with Detroit during the offseason after spending the first seven years of his career in pinstripes. Well, it's almost the same guy coming back -- he's got a full-on beard on his face now.

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:

Right-hander Brandon McCarthy gets the ball tonight for the Yankees in the series opener.

Acquired from Arizona in a trade at the beginning of July, McCarthy is 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA in pinstripes. He's turned into a great pickup by Brian Cashman, who only had to give up Vidal Nuno to get McCarthy. With everybody else in the rotation going down to injuries, he's been exactly what they needed.

McCarthy, though, is coming off his roughest outing with the Yankees, allowing four runs and nine hits in six innings against the Rangers on July 29.

The Yankees' offense will have a very tough task ahead of them over the next few days, facing the last three Cy Young awards winners, and it begins tonight with the reigning winner, right-hander Max Scherzer, who has a 5.17 ERA in three regular-season starts at Yankee Stadium.

Scherzer -- 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA over his last seven outings -- in is coming off of a start in which he tossed seven innings of one-run ball against the White Sox on Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

Yankee Notes:

* The Yankees have placed RHP David Phelps on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right arm. Phelps left Sunday night's start against the Red Sox after just two innings because of what the team was then calling inflammation in his elbow. Joe Girardi says that Phelps won't pick up a ball for two weeks.

In a corresponding move, the Yankees recalled RHP Matt Daley from Triple-A Scranton. With Phelps on the DL, the Yankees will need to find a start to Friday night against the Indians.

* Masahiro Tanaka played catch today, making 25 throws from 60 feet. He said that he felt good and didn't feel anything wrong with his elbow. He doesn't really know when he might be back, but will continue his path back to the mound by throwing again tomorrow.

* Michael Pineda almost certainly won't be the man pitching for the Yankees on Friday night. He threw 58 pitches in a rehab outing on Sunday, and Girardi doesn't think he's stretched out enough. Pineda told reporters that he'll pitch again on Friday, but isn't sure where it'll be.

* MLB announced today that Brett Gardner has been named the AL Player of the Week after hitting .478 (11-for-23) with three doubles, five homers, seven RBI, five walks and eight runs.

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Zoilo Almonte's 9th inning homer helps Yankees tie the Tigers

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

With a runner on first base in the bottom of the 9th, Zoilo Almonte clubbed a long two-run homerun to right field off of Jose Ortega to the game at 7-7, completing the Yankees comeback in a game they would tie with the Detroit Tiger, 7-7, Wednesday afternoon at The Boss in Tampa.

Hiroki Kuroda got the call of the Yankees, and was hit hard right from the start. He gave up back-to-back singles to start the game; Ian Kinsler scored on the second single by Don Kelly when Carlos Beltran's throw from right field short-hopped past Kelly Johnson at third base.

That wasn't the end, because Kuroda would end up allowing three more runs in the innings.

A sac-fly by Victor Martinez brought home Kelly from third, then a few batters later with a pair of runners on base, Nick Castellanos hit a flyball to right-center field that dropped between Beltran and center fielder Mason Williams, making it a 4-0 game.

Heis control was one of his biggest problems. He was leaving a lot of pitches up in the zone during the first inning, giving up a lot of hard hits. He gave up a total of six runs on 10 hits in 3.1 innings.

The Tigers added two more runs off of Kuroda in the 3rd inning on a one-out double by Trevor Crowe.

If there was one high note on the day it was Francisco Cervelli, who really helped his trade value a little bit by hitting a pair of homeruns, both solo shots, for his 2nd and 3rd homeruns of the spring.

Cervelli, who has been drawing quite a bit of interest from teams this spring, has been playing very well over the plat couple of weeks, and it would take a lot at this point for him to not be the Yankees' backup catcher on Opening Day.

The Yankees began their late comeback in the 8th inning, scoring three runs to bring them within one run.

Almonte, Yangervis Solarte and Adonis Garcia all collected one-out hits to load the bases, then John Ryan Murphy groundout to score Almonte while making the second out of the inning ahead of Zelous Wheeler, who would hit a ground-rule double down the left field line to bring in two more runs.

Kuroda was not very good today, but the Yankees' bullpen was, combining for 4.1 scoreless innings from Shawn Kelley, Jose Campos, Fred Lewis, Danny Burawa and Chase Whitley before Robert Coello gave up a run in the 9th inning.

The Yankees will have their first split-squad games of the spring tomorrow, with Michael Pineda in Tampa to face the Baltimore Orioles as he makes his first start of the spring, and Ivan Nova will go on the road to Clearwater to face the Philadelphia Phillies.

Both games will start at 1:05pm ET and the game against the Orioles can be seen on YES, and the Phillies matchup will be on MLB.TV.

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Spring Training Game 15: Tigers at Yankees

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

We've seen a lot of impressive outings from Yankees starters this spring, but if had to pitch one, I'd say that Hiroki Kuroda has been the most impressive. He takes the mound in Tampa today as the Yankees host the Detroit Tigers at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Kuroda is making his third start of the spring after a pair of solid outings to start his exhibition season.

His last start was Friday, also against the Tigers; he started the game in front of Michael Pineda, who was making his spring debut that night. Kuroda only gave up one hit, while striking out five and walking one.

Kuroda being Kuroda has said after both starts that he's not where he wants to be, which is understandable. He's pitching well, but if your pitching well in spring training that just means it can get better.

The Yankees will need Kuroda, 39, to be good this year -- for the entire season. As you probably know, he was their best pitcher until the final six weeks of the season when he broke down and could help give the Yankees the final push they needed to get into the playoffs.

Today's lineup vs Detroit:

Today's lineup vs DET: Ichiro 7, Jeter 6, Beltran 9, Soriano DH, Johnson 5, Roberts 4, Cervelli 2, Canzler 3, Williams 8, Kuroda 1.
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) March 12, 2014

Ichiro Suzuki will lead it off for the Yankees today. If I had to bet on it, I'd say that the Yankees might be trying to showcase Ichiro for a trade, because we all know that there is no room for him on the roster, and I'm sure they would rather carry an extra infield with the concerns in that area.

Since the Yankees are at home, Derek Jeter is back in the lineup playing shortstop today. He looked really good in the field, mobility-wise, in his last game on Sunday.

Today’s second string: C Austin Romine, 1B Jose Gil, 2B Zelous Wheeler, SS Dean Anna, 3B Jose Pirela, LF Yangervis Solarte, CF Antoan Richardson, RF Adonis Garcia, DH John Ryan Murphy.

Today’s scheduled relievers: Shawn Kelley, Jose Campos, Robert Coello, Yoshinori Tateyama, Fred Lewis.

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Yankees win on walk-off balk in Pineda's "very good" debut

Miguel Cabrera has won the American League MVP award in each of the past two seasons. Michael Pineda has pitched in the big leagues in two years. Friday night in Tampa, the two faced off on the diamond, and Pineda took Round 1.

After throwing a ball to leadoff the at-bat, Pineda fought back. Cabrera swung through a slider, strike one. Curveball taken for a strike. Up 1-2 in the count, Pineda went back to the slider and Cabrera swung right through it once again.

The strikeout of Cabrera was just one of the four that Pineda would rack up in his first appearance of the spring, and first against a major league team since 2012.

Even with Pineda's impressive performance, the Yankees almost didn't come away with the victory in this one, taking the game tied into the 9th after Matt Thornton gave up a pair of game-tying runs in the 7th, winning on a walk-off balk (yep) to beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2, at GMS Field Friday night.

Zelous Wheeler and Francisco Cervelli put together back-to-back base hits to put runners on the corners with one out, and with Jose Gil batting, Luis Marte balked to bring home Wheeler, ending the game.

Hiroki Kuroda kicked off the night by tossing 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball. Kuroda, like in his opening outing against the Philadelphia Phillies last weekend, looked good, according to the baseball writers on Twitter that were out the game.

“I struggled with my precise control today, so that caused a high pitch count,” he said. “I think I was too cautious and trying to get both corners, but it didn't really work.”

Kuroda only gave up one hit, while striking out five and walking one. By my standards, he's been the best Yankees starter of the spring.

Shawn Kelley entered in relief of Kuroda in the 3rd inning, and had a pretty easy one-out night. David Robertson got in his second out of the season, throwing a scoreless 4th inning, striking out one.

Then came Pineda, who was good. Very good.

"He looked very good and healthy," a scout told ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand.

“We liked what we saw,” Joe Girardi said. “I don’t want to make too much of it, but I’ve said all along he looks different what we've seen this spring compared to a couple of springs ago: the ball coming out of his hand, I thought he had cleaned up his mechanics a lot. This was a good step.”

Pineda had his fastball clocked in at 90-92 mph, and coming off of shoulder surgery, that's a good thing to hear. We've been waiting see Pineda pitch for a long time, and he did not disappoint tonight, striking out four in two innings, giving up just one single, and throwing 21 of 27 pitches for strikes.

“His slider was pretty much unhittable,” Brian McCann said. “… I think the thing I was impressed about was him pounding the zone with all of his pitches. He struck a guy out on a 0-2 slider. It was definitely encouraging.”

The Yankees scored one time in the game, and that was in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Carlos Beltran crushed a two-run homerun that might still be flying.

After Derek Jeter, who singled twice in the game, collected his second hit of the night to open the inning, Beltran took a swing that put the Yankees up 2-0.

The Tigers would tied the game in the 7th inning off of Thornton after Alex Avila grounded a one-out single into center field, then Austin Jackson tripled to score Avila, and Steve Lombardozz followed up with a single to bring home Jackson, tying the game.

**********

Gavin Ewbank is Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog

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Yankees hit four homeruns in 7-4 win over the Tigers

Brian McCann hit his first homerun of the spring, and the Yankees hit four total on the day in their 7-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers Friday in Lakeland.

The Tigers tried putting together a late-inning comeback, scoring four runs in the 7th against Brian Gordon, but in the end, it wasn't enough to overcome the four homeruns hit by the Bombers.

McCann put the Yankees on the board against reigning Cy Young winning Max Scherzer in the top of the 2nd inning with a solo homerun.

“I usually don’t hit home runs early in camp,” McCann said. “I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad sign. My first two games, I’ve been pleased with the way I’ve felt at the plate.”

The Yankees brought in McCann to be the same guy that hits at least 20 homeruns a year, and help be a serious upgrade over the eight homeruns that the Yankees got from the catcher position last season.

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Spring Training Game 4: Yankees at Tigers

After impressing in their spring debuts on Wednesday, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann will be back in the Yankees lineup on Friday when they head on the road to Lakeland to take on the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Carlos Beltran, who went 0-for-3 in his debut, will also be among those getting on the bus. It'll be pretty much the same squad that faced the Pirates in Bradenton on Wednesday.

Adam Warren will be on the mound for the Yankees, making his first start of the spring. The Tigers will hand the ball to reigning Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer.

Warren is one of the four starters fighting for the fifth starter job. Even though he pitched very well for the Yankees out of the bullpen last season, moving to the rotation is something that the Yankees might not be looking to do with Warren.

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At least six teams have made a run at Brett Gardner

With six outfielders on the roster, the Yankees are looking to move at least one or two. Brett Gardner has been a name that has come up time after time this offseason.

Gardner has been drawing a ton of interest, and at least six teams, including the Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers, have made a run at Gardner in trade talks, according to Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com.

The Yankees have expressed several times that they have no intentions of trading Gardner, but would be willing to listen to any offers that teams have, especially if it brings them back a starting pitcher.

Back in November, the Cincinnati Reds offered the Yankees second baseman Brandon Phillips, but they turned that deal down on a count of the nearly $50 million owed to Phillips over the next four years. Plus, it seems the only way that the Yankees will let go of Gardner is if it brings them back a starter.

When the Yankees head into Spring Training, Gardner will most likely serve as the team's left fielder, with Jacoby Ellsbury in center and Carlos Beltran in right field. Alfonso Soriano might also spend some time in left field, swapping in and out with Beltran at DH.

Gardner has one year left on his contract and will be a free-agent after this upcoming season. He's expected to cash-in next offseason, and after just signing Ellsbury to a massive contract, the Yanks might not be looking to add on the extra money of Gardner long-term. He is also eligible for arbitration this winter, and is expected to bring in around $5 million in 2014.

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Cano might have met with the Tigers

Just a couple of days ago, the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers finalized a deal that sent Prince Fielder to Texas, with all-star second baseman Ian Kinsler to the Motor City. But does that mean the Tigers are done adding infielders? Maybe not.

Though unconfirmed, a report by Tony Paul of the Detroit News suggests that Robinson Cano might have met with the Tigers Friday.

Paul says that Cano might have been spotted at under-the-radar Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti.

No one has been able to confirm that Cano, or even one of his representatives, was in Detroit to meet with the Tigers, but it does leave the speculation of whether or not they would be able to land the best free-agent on the market.

Yes, the Tigers just freed up more than $160 million in trading away Fielder, but at the same time, they now have Kinsler.

Basically, there would be no place for Cano to play unless Detroit decides they want to flip Kinsler and deal him somewhere else, or if he wanted to change positions to play in the outfield, which is something he said he would do in Texas when the Ranger were dealing with the problem of having three quality middle-infielders with only two positions -- Jurickson Profar, Elvis Andrus and Kinsler.

Of course, there's no telling what the Tigers would do when it comes to Cano. As we've seen in the past, they can be pretty unpredictable when it comes to making offseason moves.

But even if they were in on signing Cano, the bigger question is if he really wants to go to Detroit. Not to knock on the city, but we all know that Detroit is no New York -- the place that Cano really wants to be.

We all suspect that one of the reasons Cano decided to leave Scott Boras and sign Jay Z as his agent is because it would better his chances of staying in New York.

He also wants to play for a winner, and the Tigers are currently in shape to contend for a World Series once again next season. The Yankees, on the other hand, are still to be determined as playoff contenders or not.

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Gardner's Walkoff Homer In The 9th Win It For The Yanks

NEW YORK -- Yankees fans are cheering for Alex Rodriguez once again -- for now. After getting Saturday's game off, A-Rod was back in the Yanks lineup and launched his first homerun of the year off Justin Verlander in the 2nd, one of his two hits on the day to help the Yanks defeat the Tigers, 5-4.

Coming up to the plate to face Verlander in the 2nd, A-Rod was greeted by the fans with a mixture of cheers and boos, that would quickly turn to cheers after A-Rod took a fastball and turned on it, sending over the wall in left field to tie the game, 1-1.

"I think the fans have been incredible. I said that yesterday," Rodriguez said. "You want to turn boos into cheers, you want to go out and make them proud. All you want is really an opportunity and a chance. I think New York always gives you that. I certainly feel that way walking around the city. The support has never been stronger in my 10 years. I'm very thankful."

The Yankees would go on to take the lead later in the inning after Lyle Overbay singled following the homerun by A-Rod, then Curtis Granderson singled after Alfonso Soriano struck out, moving Overbay to third with one away.

Eduardo Nunez came up with runners on the corners and lifted a fly-ball to center field that would be deep enough for Overbay to tag and score, giving the Yanks a 2-1.

After Robinson Cano ripped a ground-rule double left field with two away, A-Rod came up again with a chance to drive in another run. A-Rod took a 2-2 pitch from Verlander and lined it down the right field line, bringing home Cano for the Yanks third run.

"Our hope was that he is in midseason form when he gets here, but you're never sure when a guy comes off the DL, and he's been there for a long time," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Today was a great day for [A-Rod]."

Soriano said after yesterday's game that the thought of getting his 2,000th with certainly on his mind, making it hard for him to focus during at-bats. Well, he can finally stop thinking about it. The first pitch he saw from Verlander in the 4th, Soriano blasted out to left field his career hit No. 2,000.

All this run support came to the benefit of Andy Pettitte, who didn't have his best stuff on this day. Detroit was all over Pettitte early, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Prince Fielder -- the eighth straight start in which Pettitte has given up a run in the first inning.

Although the Tigers were putting runners on base, they weren't able to do much against Pettitte, or any of the other Yankee pitchers in the game. Girardi decided to pulled the plug on Pettitte's day with one out in the 5th, taking him out after loading the bases. He gave up only one run on eight hits, walking three and striking out three in just 4 1/3.

"It's taxing on my body to throw that many pitches early in the game," said Pettitte. "I'm out there battling and grinding as hard as I can, but we've got to win ballgames right now."

Shawn Kelley took over for Pettitte, holding the Tigers to just one hit over an inning and a third. Boone Logan also tossed a scoreless inning and a third. David Robertson pitched the 8th, giving up a long homerun to Brian Pena, the first earned run given up Robertson since June 16th.

Perhaps the play of the game took place in the 8th inning. Austin Jackson was on first base with one out when Torii Hunter lifted a fly-ball that carried to deep center, and as Brett Gardner went back, he made the catch while slamming into the wall.

Shaken up by the play, he rolled the ball over the Soriano. Jackson thought the ball had been dropped, so he stayed at second, and when the ball made it's way back into the infield, Cano applied the tag,  completing the double play to end the inning.

Miguel Cabrera was on deck when the 8th inning ended, and was forced to face Mariano Rivera to open the 9th. Down two-strikes, Cabrera recreated Friday's magic, taking Rivera deep to pull the Tigers within one run, making it a 4-3 game.

A couple batters later, Victor Martinez tied the game with a no doubter into the second deck in right field, knotting the score at 4-4. It was the third consecutive blown save by Rivera, the first time in his Hall of Fame career that he's blown three straight saves.

"At least it's only the first time," Rivera said. "I don't pay attention to that stuff. I just try to go out there and do my job. The last three opportunities, I haven't done it. You have to continue battling and get better."

But with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, Gardner, who won the game for the Yankees on Friday with a walk-off single in the 10th, blastes a long, walk-off homerun to right field, giving the Yankees a 5-4 win.

"I think Mo has bailed us out quite a few times. Things like that happen," Gardner said. "That's the first time I've ever hit a walk-off homer. It might be the last. It didn't matter if it was me or someone else, we just needed to get a win today."

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