Tigers' Ivan Rodriguez goes 3-for-4 and Kenny Rogers pitches Tigers past Yankees 6-5
By RON VAMPLE | Associated Press | May 9, 08 9:51 PM CDT in
Sports
Kenny Rogers pitched into the seventh inning and Ivan Rodriguez had three hits and drove in a pair of runs to help the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 6-5 Friday night.
Rodriguez drove in a pair of runs and Rogers (3-3) held the Yankees to two runs on nine hits before New York scored three runs off Todd Jones in the ninth, but still lost for the third time in four games.
Rogers picked Wilson Betemit off first base in the second inning, giving him the big league record with 92 career pickoffs. The stat has been kept since 1974.
Detroit won for the second time in eight games since sweeping the Yankees in a three-game series in New York. It was the Tigers' first sweep of at least three games at Yankee Stadium since 1966.
Kei Igawa's season debut was a forgettable one for New York. He lasted just three-plus innings, allowing six runs on 11 hits.
In the third inning, Rodriguez drove in a run with an infield double, and Magglio Ordonez and Gary Sheffield also had run-scoring hits to give Detroit a 4-1 lead.
The Tigers scored two more in the fourth, on left-fielder Hideki Matsui's error and Placido Polanco's RBI single.
Jason Giambi homered in the second, giving him 184 with the Yankees, passing Tommy Henrich and tying Charlie Keller for 16th place in team history.
New York scored in the ninth on Robinson Cano's RBI groundout, Derek Jeter's run-scoring single and Bobby Abreu's RBI double before Shelley Duncan lined out to center to end the game.
Notes: @ Carlos Guillen hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning. Sheffield has 1,583 RBIs, tying former Tiger Al Kaline for 35th place in major league history. ... The Yankees committed three errors. ... Detroit relievers had three wild pitches.
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