Bronx, NY – Drew Smyly threw six-plus strong innings for his first MLB win, Andy Dirks hit a three-run homer and the Detroit Tigers held on to beat the New York Yankees, 7-5, on Saturday.
Smyly (1-0) gave up just two hits, two walks and a run and struck out seven in his fourth major league start.
"He pitched like a veteran pitcher, to be honest with you," said Detroit manager Jim Leyland about Smyly. "He was terrific today and they hadn't seen him before so that helped."
The 22-year-old lefty entered the game with a 1.13 earned run average -- two earned runs in 16 innings -- which climbed 0.1 points despite the good outing.
Miguel Cabrera had two hits, including a solo homer, and knocked in three runs as the Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak.
Nick Swisher hit two solo homers, including one in a three-run ninth for New York, and Curtis Granderson added a solo blast.
Yankees starter Freddy Garcia (0-2) was knocked around for six runs, five hits and two walks in just 1 2/3 innings. He has pitched just 13 2/3 innings in four starts and has a 12.51 ERA.
"His stuff is not what we're used to seeing. It's not coming out of his hand the way we're used to seeing," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "We're trying to figure out what's going on."
The Yankees won the opener of the three-game series, 7-6, on Friday but fell behind early in this one and only showed life later on.
Garcia walked Austin Jackson to lead off the game, struck out Brennan Boesch and Cabrera, then threw an intentional ball on a 3-0 count to Prince Fielder to put two runners on.
Dirks made the Yankees pay, knocking an 0-2 pitch over the right field wall to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.
Swisher hit his first homer of the game in the bottom of the first, but the Tigers pushed their lead to 6-1 with another three-run rally in the second.
Boesch delivered an RBI double and Cabrera knocked Garcia out of the game with a two-run single.
The teams exchanged solo homers later on -- Granderson for the Yankees in the seventh and Cabrera for the Tigers in the eighth -- and Jose Valverde had to hang on in the ninth to preserve Detroit's win.
Swisher led off the frame wit his sixth homer of the season and Granderson hit an RBI single. Raul Ibanez added a pinch-hit double to score another run with two outs, but Valverde got pinch-hitter Eric Chavez on a fly ball to end the game.
Game Notes
The Tigers put Delmon Young on the restricted list a day after the outfielder was arrested early Friday morning for allegedly attacking a man at a New York hotel and yelling anti-Semitic remarks.
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