CC Sabathia beat All-Star Justin Verlander in a prime pitching matchup that lived up to its billing, and Alex Rodriguez’s pop-fly homer sent the New York Yankees to a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.
Sabathia (9-6) tossed seven shutout innings, working out of trouble most of the afternoon for his eighth victory in 11 decisions. Mariano Rivera got three quick outs for the save while Derek Jeter made an outstanding defensive play in the ninth.
Melky Cabrera legged out an infield single to drive in the second run against Verlander (10-5), who took a three-hit shutout into the seventh inning before running into some tough luck.
Rodriguez led off with a high fly toward Yankee Stadium’s short right-field porch and the ball carried into the second row of seats for an opposite-field homer. Verlander watched it the whole way, then simply smiled in disbelief after the drive cleared the fence.
It was Rodriguez’s 571st home run, leaving him two behind Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew for ninth place on the career list.
Robinson Cano singled with two outs and went to third on Nick Swisher’s soft double inside the left-field line. Cabrera hit a slow roller to shortstop, with Swisher doing all he could to distract Adam Everett as he crossed over to third.
Everett’s throw appeared to beat Cabrera by the slimmest margin, but he was called safe by first base umpire Jeff Nelson. Cabrera clapped his hands as Cano scored, putting New York ahead 2-0.
Marcus Thames homered in the eighth off Alfredo Aceves, who struck out two to set up Rivera for his 507th career save and 25th in 26 chances this season.
Jeter made a signature jump throw from deep in the shortstop hole to get Brandon Inge for the second out of the ninth.
The Yankees, who have won 15 of 20, are 40-22 since Rodriguez came off the disabled list on May 8 – the best record in the majors. New York also improved to 18-5 against AL Central teams.
The first-place Tigers fell to 4-12 against the AL East.
Verlander beat Sabathia on April 27, pitching seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts and no walks to start his seven-game winning streak.
This time, the hard-throwing right-hander allowed only two hits through his first 5 2-3 innings – singles by Jeter in the first and fourth.
Johnny Damon doubled with two outs in the sixth before Mark Teixeira’s bat slipped out of his hands on a swing-and-miss, whipping through the air like a helicopter blade. The bat landed five rows deep behind the Yankees’ first base dugout, but nobody appeared to be hurt.
NOTES: David Cone threw out the ceremonial first pitch on the 10th anniversary of his perfect game against the Montreal Expos at old Yankee Stadium. His catcher in that game was the same one as Saturday: New York manager Joe Girardi. “I can’t believe it’s been that long already,” Girardi said. … RHP Chien-Ming Wang (strained right shoulder) is scheduled to play catch Monday but is not expected back anytime soon. “It’s going to take awhile,” Girardi said. “This is not something where he’s going to be back on the mound in two weeks.” … Verlander did not pitch in Tuesday night’s All-Star game. … The Tigers placed reliever Joel Zumaya on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right shoulder and recalled RHP Ryan Perry from Triple-A Toledo. Zumaya traveled to Detroit to be examined by a doctor.