DETROIT — It took until the middle of May for the Yankees’ luxury ride to hit a pothole.
Now we will find out how quickly Joe Girardi’s club re-aligns those expensive wheel rims.
Yesterday’s 6-0 loss to the Tigers and stud right-hander Justin Verlander in front of 31,130 at Comerica Park sent the defending World Series champs home having dropped three of four to the second-best team in the AL Central — and being blanked in two of the final three games.
“We didn’t swing the bats very well,” Girardi said of his club, which had four hits in each of the shutout losses, sandwiched around an 8-0 win. The Yanks also went a combined 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
“You go through a period of time when you don’t get a lot of hits. You hope you can shut them down, because you aren’t going to score five to six runs a game. They did a good job of pitching, and we didn’t swing well.”
Tonight, the Yankees open a three-game series with the Twins, the Central’s leader, at Yankee Stadium.
And it doesn’t get soft for a while. The Red Sox follow the Twins into The Bronx for two, followed by the Rays, the best team in baseball, visit for a deuce.
Then it’s three Subway Series dates with the Mets in Queens and three in Minnesota.
Struggling Mark Teixeira, asked if there were a concern about the way the Yankees are playing and the slate ahead, dismissed the notion.
“Not at all,” said Teixeira, who went 3-for-17 (.176) with a homer and five RBIs in the four Detroit games.
“As long as we play the way we are capable of playing and don’t go crazy walking guys or popping up the first pitch.”
After taking two of three from the Red Sox in Fenway, the 22-12 Yankees finished the two-city trip 3-4 and trail the 24-10 Rays by two lengths in the AL East.
The Tigers nicked CC Sabathia for a run in the second when Gerald Laird’s checked-swing single to right plated Brennan Boesch from second. But there was nothing cheap about the back-to-back homers by Miguel Cabrera and Boesch in the fourth.
“It was a two-seamer to Cabrera, and he hit it, and the pitch to the left-hander was a hanging breaking ball,” Sabathia said.
Going into yesterday’s outing, Verlander overall had been pedestrian (3-2, 4.36 ERA) against the Yankees. Yet, facing a lineup that was without switch-hitter Nick Swisher (biceps problem), Verlander dominated.
In 6 2/3 innings, Verlander (4-2) allowed four hits, fanned four, walked four and hit a batter.
When Sabathia arrived at the ballpark there was a lot of uncertainty whether rain was going to wash out the game. It started on time, but the Yankees, who had Juan Miranda, Randy Winn and Greg Golson in the bottom third of the order, never got into gear behind their ace.
Derek Jeter, who started the game in a 4-for-39 (.103) slide, went 1-for-4 with a leadoff infield single and took a 95 mph fastball on the left pinky from Verlander in the fifth inning.
“All you try to do is take good at-bats and hit the ball hard,” said Jeter, who also explained the pinky was fine. “But I need to get on base a little more.”
Sabathia (4-2) gave up five runs and nine hits in six innings. In his last two outings, he has worked 10 2/3 frames and surrendered nine earned runs and 13 hits.
“It was just one of those days, I lost it,” Sabathia said.
With an assist from the Dead Bat Society.