Delmon Young tortured the Yankees last year, with three solo home runs, including a first-inning shot in Game 5 of the ALDS.
Young continued his act last night — and didn’t just do it with the home run.
Oh, he put one in the seats — Young belted a solo shot to left off Derek Lowe in the eighth to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead, on the way to a 6-4, 12-inning win. And with Jose Valverde’s miserable ninth inning effort for the Tigers, every run mattered, so Young’s sixth career postseason shot as a Tiger — a team record — was significant. It was Young’s third playoff homer at Yankee Stadium as a Tiger.
“I have no clue about that,” Young said of his success in The Bronx. “Just trying to have good at-bats and win ballgames and trying to come out with victories. Fourth post-season [second with Detroit], so I have a lot of games and at-bats under my belt. Maybe being here a couple years in a row has helped.”
It’s got to be something. But Young, who singled in a run in the sixth inning as well, saved what proved to be his most important hit for the 12th inning.
With Miguel Cabrera on via a walk, Young drilled a David Phelps offering hard to right field. Nick Swisher lunged but didn’t get a glove on it. Cabrera scored, Young ended up on second.
Don Kelly pinch ran for Young and eventually scored on infield hits by Jhonny Peralta (the play where Derek Jeter was injured) and Andy Dirks, who picked up the RBI. Not a bad night’s work: RBI single, solo homer, RBI double.
“I was just looking for a fastball, got it … and I didn’t know if it would stay high enough because of the top spin and the hook,” Young said of his homer, before discussing his game-deciding hit. “I thought it was going to hook right back to him. I don’t know what happened … I didn’t have my hopes up too high but fortunately it got by him and Miggy was able to score.”