New York Yankees

 The New York Yankees came into today’s ballgame with the most runs in the American League, and the Detroit Tigers brought them back to Earth. 

  • New York Yankees: 0 (2-2)
  • Detroit Tigers: 4 (3-0)
  • American League, FINAL, Box Score
  • Comerica Park, Detroit, MI

 

By Christian Kouroupakis

After the New York Yankees‘ offense caught fire in the first series at Yankee Stadium, the brisk temperature of Detroit cooled them off in today’s shutout loss to the Tigers.

The unit that put up 27 runs in the first three games of the season only got one runner in scoring position (Mark Teixeira) while only managing three hits all game.

Teixeira, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brett Gardner were the only Yankees to record a hit while the offense went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position, left five runners on base, and one caught stealing (Ellsbury).

The only real highlight for New York was an acrobatic diving catch by Aaron Hicks in the bottom of the third.

Luis Severino took the hill in the first outing of his sophomore season, and he did well but didn’t get the help behind him.

In the bottom of the first, Severino surrendered a lead off double to right off the bat of Ian Kinsler and he was driven in two batters later by Miguel Cabrera to make the score 1-0 Tigers.

Sevy got through the second and third inning smoothly but ran into trouble again in the bottom of the fourth.

With one out and no one on, J.D. Martinez smoked a line drive that was misjudged by Ellsbury in center and it fell for a single. It was not Severino’s wrong-doing, but will go in the books as a single.

Two batters later, Jose Iglesias smacked a single to right field that allowed Martinez to score from second base putting the Tigers up 2-0.

After surrendering one more run in the fourth, manager Joe Girardi stuck with Severino until the Tigers rallied in the fifth and threatened to score.

Severino’s final line was three runs on ten hits in five innings of work. His fastball looked electric, but he couldn’t locate his slider well enough to be effective.

Johnny Barbato relieved Severino and struck out two to bail out the 22-year old starter.

Following Barbato’s stellar inning, Luis Cessa made his Major League debut. He also made a little history, becoming the first player in Yankees history to wear the number 85 in a regular season game.

Cessa, after striking out Justin Upton for his first career strikeout, was formally welcomed to the show by Miguel Cabrera, who took Cessa yard into the seats in right to further pad the lead.

In his career against the Yankees, Cabrera has a .340/.415/.665 slash line in 61 career games with 19 home runs and 48 RBI.

After Cessa settled down and pitched a scoreless eighth inning, the Yankees went down quietly in the ninth by Kyle Ryan to finish them off 4-0.

Jordan Zimmermann was on today as he pitched seven innings of two-hit ball and struck out three. He made the Yankee offense, that looked unstoppable the previous series, look like they couldn’t hit a pitching machine.

The Yankees will look to get back at the Tigers tomorrow at 1:10 PM ET. CC Sabathia will make his first start of 2016, and his first regular season start since checking himself into an alcoholic rehabilitation center last October.

The Tigers will counter with Mike Pelfrey who the Yankees are very familiar with. In six games against him, Yankee hitters have a .280/.352/.399 slash line with three home runs.

Tune into the YES Network where coverage will begin at 12:30.

NEXT: The New York Yankees’ Offense Is Inexhaustible At Full Potential