By Ray Bennett
Thursday March 31, 2011
On Thursday, Curtis Granderson entered Yankee Stadium to face his former team the Detroit Tigers. Once the final out was recorded, he left as a big contributor to the team's eleventh straight Opening Day home win.
The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-3 on a very cold and misty Opening Day Thursday in the Bronx. Granderson hit the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning off of Tigers reliever and former Yankee Phil Coke. This marks the third straight Opening Day in which Granderson has hit a home run, the second straight year as a member of the Yankees. This was also the Yankees eleventh straight Opening Day win at home.
The game was gearing up to be a pitchers dual between aces Justin Verlander for the Tigers and CC Sabathia for the Yankees. Detroit got the first run of the game in the top of the second off a Jhonny Peralta sacrifice fly that scored Miguel Cabrera. In the bottom of the third with two out and two runners on, Yankees first baseman Mark Texieria hit a Verlander pitch deep to right field for a three run shot. Texieria, who has been known to be a slow starter for the Yankees offensively, hit his third home run in the month of March/April as a member of the Yankees in his third year with the team.
In the next half-inning, after Sabathia walked Cabrera and gave up a Ryan Raburn single with one out, Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge singled down the left field line to score Cabrera to cut the deficit by one. The fifth inning saw Cabrera get an RBI off a sacrifice fly that scored centerfielder Austin Jackson.
Verlander got into a jam late in the bottom of the sixth. After Alex Rodriguez hit a double off the wall in right-center and a Robinson Cano walk with one out, Verlander struckout both Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada on full counts to end the inning.
Both Verlander and Sabathia did not disappoint in their season debuts, getting no decisions. Sabathia went six innings striking out seven Tiger batters, while giving up six hits and three runs. Verlander also exited after the sixth, striking out eight, while giving up three hits and three runs.
Once the bottom of the seventh rolled around, Granderson went deep off of Coke. Granderson and Coke, along with Austin Jackson, were involved in three team trade back in 2009 that also featured Arizona. Last year in his first at-bat with the Yankees, Granderson hit a home run against the rival Red Sox. He also hit a home run on Opening Day as a member of the Tigers in 2009.
New York added another run in the same inning thanks to a Derek Jeter sacrifice fly that scored catcher Russel Martin. Jeter went 0-2 on the day with the RBI. Jeter enters the 2011 season trying to reach the 3000 career hit mark, needing just 74 hits to get there. The Yankees added one more in eight off a Swisher bloop single that scored Rodriguez.
Yankees closer Mariano Rivera shut the door on a Tigers comeback, pitching a one-two-three ninth inning to end the game. The 41-year-old Rivera needs 40 more saves to reach the 600 career mark. Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain picked up the win out of the bullpen, going one-two-three in seventh. Coke, who will work in the Tigers starting rotation later on in the month of April, picked up the loss.
Tigers catcher Victor Martinez went 1-4 in his team debut, getting a single in his first at-bat for Detroit. Martinez was the designated hitter for the game as backup catcher Alex Avila started at that position. Cabrera went 1-2 in three at-bats, scoring two of the Tigers three runs. Inge went 2-3 with the RBI single and a two out double with no one on in the sixth.
Despite scoring six runs, the Yankees only had five hits in the game. Along with the Granderson and Texieria home runs, new Yankees catcher Russel Martin went 1-3 scoring two runs. Both teams have the day off on Friday. They will finish the three game series on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Either Rick Porcello or Brad Penny will start on Saturday against Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett.
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