Disappointing.

Yankees 5, Tigers 1

Justin Verlander (24 GS, 157.2 IP, 4.57 ERA, 4.08 FIP, 2.1 fWAR) came into Yankees Stadium looking to build on some positive momentum from his last start against the helpless Rockies and but for two solo home runs, he was quite good across seven innings. He allowed five hits and a walk to go along with five strikeouts and wasn’t in much trouble at any point. Verlander’s pitches looked better too and induced some more Verlanderian reactions from the batter’s box. Unfortunately, the bats couldn’t do much to back him up. They scored courtesy of a Jeter error to start the game that was followed by a wild pitch, ground out, and sac fly. The rest of the night they were silent, save perhaps for a Martinez double that Ellsbury took away and a bad defense induced threat in the 8th. And then of course, the wheels fell off when Hardy struggled and then failed to cover first during a double play that made everything worse. The Tigers will still have a shot to split the series with Rick Porcello (21 GS, 141.1 IP, 3.18 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 2.4 fWAR) on the hill Thursday afternoon.

The Moment: Cabrera and Romine start a nice doub….aw forget it.