Detroit Tigers 3 — New York Yankees 0
Hiroki Kuroda is the hard-luck loser in today’s 3-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Hiroki Kuroda dominated in his 7.2 innings start today. 7 of the first 9 Kuroda faced were out by the strikeout as Kuroda had all his pitches working. He would not give up his first hit until Jhonny Peralta’s leadoff single in the 6th inning. The first run Kuroda gave up was in the 7th inning as a double and a single put runners on the corners with no outs. Kuroda would get a big strikeout of Prince Fielder before inducing a double play that would be just a forceout as Cano would not have a handle of the ball and could not finish it off and the run would score. That would be all the damage of that inning as he would enter the 8th inning trailing 1-0 in a pitcher’s duel. Kuroda would start the 8th inning with 2 strikeouts as he continues to have a solid hold on the game. Two singles would appear to continue the inning but a missed call at 2nd base would prove costly. Second base umpire Jeff Nelson would be responsible for the inning continuing and Kuroda’s exit. Kuroda would finish his day with 11 strikeouts and 3 runs allowed, 2 of which were on base after he exited. After the second single of the inning by Austin Jackson, Nick Swisher threw behind the lead runner and caught him off of second base but Nelson would rule him safe. Boone Logan would replace Kuroda following this and a series of relievers would be a part of 2 more runs coming home. Joe Girardi would get ejected amidst the pitching changes and rightfully so. The Yankees pitching gave them the best effort to win the game but the Yankees offense continues to struggle in postseason baseball.
Against Anibal Sanchez and the Tigers’ bullpen, the Yankees only managed to get 4 hits. The Yankees couldn’t seem to get any kind of rally started. The opportunities with runners on were minimal as they only had 5 and many came with 2 outs. The Yankees were hitless with runners in scoring position and left 7 on base. The most notable struggle is Robinson Cano’s. Robinson Cano has set a postseason record going 0 for 25 hitless streak in the postseason. If it’s worth anything, Alex Rodriguez was able to get a hit in the 9th inning but it would all go for nothing as the Yankees fall behind by 2 in the series.
Win – Anibal Sanchez (1-0)
Loss – Hiroki Kuroda (0-1)
Save – Phil Coke (1)
Notables
Tigers
*Miguel Cabrera – 2 for 4, RBI (1)
*Avisail Garcia – 1 for 1, RBI (2)
Yankees
*Mark Teixeira – 1 for 4, 2B
*Raul Ibanez – 1 for 2, 2 BB
Current series: Tigers lead 2-0.
