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August 9, 1996: Ruben Sierra sticks it to former team, beats Yankees 5-3

Cecil Fielder said he was ready to face his old team, the Detroit Tigers, but it was the guy he was traded for who did the damage. Former Yankee Ruben Sierra drove in five runs to defeat New York by a score of 5-3 tonight.

Sierra said he had no extra motivation coming into tonight’s game. “Because you never know if I’m going to come back with the Yankees,” he said (Via NY Times). Sierra, however, admitted he was upset by the trade, and by the fact that no one on the team said goodbye to him when he left.

“‘You got traded.’ That’s it. It’s like you don’t give a damn about me, just about the team. They just give a damn about winning. Mariano Duncan was the only one who said goodbye. Everyone else, it was like they didn’t care. It made me feel bad.” (Via NY Times)

The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Andy Pettitte when Sierra smacked a three-run bomb to left-center field. The Yankees responded in the second when Tino Martinez hit a solo shot.

In the fifth, Sierra knocked in two more with a double to push the score to 5-1. ”I didn’t like facing him tonight, obviously,” Pettitte said about Sierra. ”He’s a mistake hitter. I laid two balls up right on the heart of the dish. And he couldn’t miss them.” (Via NY Times)

Fielder cut the lead to 5-3 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, but it was too little too late. The Yankees will look to even the series tomorrow night as Jimmy Key goes against C.J. Nitkowski.

Notes:

  • David Cone will throw for 15 minutes tomorrow, and could throw batting practice next week in Chicago. He’s recovering from shoulder surgery.

Box score and current stats

 

        1 2 3  4 5 6  7 8 9   R  H  E
        - - -  - - -  - - -   -  -  -
Tigers  3 0 0  0 2 0  0 0 0   5  7  0
Yankees 0 1 0  0 2 0  0 0 0   3  9  0


Batting     AB R H RBI BB SO  BA  OBP  SLG
                                                       
Jeter SS      5 0 1  0  0  0 .304 .365 .415
Boggs 3B      5 1 2  0  0  0 .315 .391 .403
ONeill RF     5 0 0  0  0  1 .299 .414 .454
Fielder DH    3 1 1  2  1  1 .250 .356 .486
Martinez 1B   4 1 2  1  0  0 .297 .360 .459
B.Williams CF 4 0 2  0  0  0 .302 .384 .525
Strawberry LF 3 0 0  0  1  1 .250 .367 .554
Girardi C     3 0 1  0  0  1 .309 .365 .381
Fox 2B        2 0 0  0  0  0 .191 .274 .255
Duncan PH-2B  2 0 0  0  0  1 .331 .345 .471


Pitching           IP H R ER BB SO  ERA
                                              
Pettitte L (16-7) 4.2 6 5  5  4  2 4.44
Mecir             3.1 1 0  0  0  3 4.84
Nelson              1 0 0  0  0  2 4.36