MLB

Yankees top Tigers on Swisher’s clutch hit

DETROIT — After watching the Yankees flush multiple scoring chances across the first eight frames, it was easy to believe the ninth inning wasn’t going to be different.

And when Curtis Granderson was thrown out attempting to steal second when he over-slid the bag following a leadoff walk in a 3-3 game, it wasn’t a reach to believe the Yankees were headed for ninth-inning heartache or extra innings.

But Nick Swisher’s one-out RBI single up the middle off Jose Valverde put the Yanks up a run, and another run scored when catcher Alex Avila was charged with a passed ball in a 5-3 Yankees victory before a Comerica Park crowd of 22,852.

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Mark Teixeira walked after Granderson became the third Yankee to make an out on the basepaths, and Alex Rodriguez reached on an infield single. Swisher, batting fifth because Robinson Cano sat out with a bruised left hand, on a 2-2 count went through the middle to score Teixeira and send Rodriguez to third. Rodriguez scored when Avila was charged with a passed ball.

“I have been trying to do that for the past week or so,” Swisher said about going up the middle on the game-winning single.

Until Swisher’s hit, the Yankees were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners in eight innings.

The Yankees’ third straight win went to Joba Chamberlain, who worked a scoreless eighth inning because Rafael Soriano was given the night off after he pitched Saturday and Sunday.

Mariano Rivera, who also pitched Saturday and Sunday, posted a spotless ninth for his 11th save.

“He is off [tonight],” Girardi said of Rivera. “He will fight me but he is off.”

Despite giving back an early 3-0 lead, Bartolo Colon was effective. Colon went seven innings, allowed three runs, seven hits, fanned seven and didn’t issue a walk.

“I appreciate the Yankees giving me the opportunity a lot,” Colon said.

Not as much as the Yankees appreciate what the veteran right-hander has done filling the void created by Phil Hughes going on the DL.

Overall, he is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA in six games (three starts). The Yankees are 3-0 in games started by Colon, who surrendered two opposite-field homers to left-handed hitting Avila.

The Yankees took the 3-0 lead on an RBI double in the second by Eduardo Nunez, who started at second for Cano, after a bases-loaded, ground-rule double by Jorge Posada in the first.

Throughout April, the Yankees’ new DH was mostly off. Posada had six homers, but the average was embarrassing.

Now, there are small signs that he is improving.

“He has worked hard staying in the middle of the field, working his tail off and now is seeing results,” Girardi said of Posada, who added a single in the sixth.

“I have been hitting balls and people have been making plays,” said Posada, who raised his average from .133 to .150. “I have been feeling pretty good at the plate lately.”

His double off Justin Verlander staked the Yankees to an early lead but more than that it provided positive reinforcement that the work he has been doing with hitting coach Kevin Long is paying dividends.

“I am swinging at strikes and attacking the baseball,’’ he said. “I am better.”

george.king@nypost.com