Yanks Complete Sweep Of Tigers

The Yankees finished off a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers on a somber day at Yankee Stadium. Before the game, the Yankees paid tribute to the victims and events of September 11, 2001 with a memorial in Monument Park among other things. During the game, Roger Clemens (14-9) paid tribute to the Tigers by shutting them down in his last start against them ever.

Clemens had his splitter working against Detroit’s lineup. He fanned six batters, all swinging (mostly at the splitter), in 6 2/3 innings en route to his 14th win of the season. He allowed two runs on seven hits and a pair of walks before giving way to the bullpen in the seventh.

The Yanks got out to an early lead in the first inning on Nick Johnson’s towering solo homerun to right field. It was Johnson’s 13th of the season and his second in as many games.

Detroit tied the game in the third inning when Ramon Santiago drove in Brandon Inge, who had doubled one batter earlier, with a single to right-centerfield.

The Tigers temporarily took the lead the next inning. Bobby Higginson walked to start the inning and moved to second on Dmitri Young’s single. Higginson and Young pulled off a double steal one out later, and Craig Monroe lifted a sacrifice fly to right that scored the runner from third.

The last-place Tigers’ lead wouldn’t hold for very long however. In the bottom of the fourth, Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi led off the inning with consecutive singles off of Nate Cornejo. Bernie Williams moved both runners over with a groundout and Jorge Posada singled to drive them both in.

Posada stole second base – his first steal since April 26 and second of the season – on a botched hit-and-run play, but was thrown out at the plate on Hideki Matsui’s single up the middle. Matsui would later come around to score on Aaron Boone’s base hit to give the Yanks a 4-2 lead.

Bernie Williams capped the scoring with a solo homerun in the eighth inning off of Cornejo.

Posada now has 11 RBI in his last three games and 91 on the season.

Cornejo (6-15) pitched admirably and went the distance for the hapless Tigers. He allowed five runs, just four earned, on eleven hits and a pair of walks while striking out two.

Gabe White pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings in relief of Clemens, and Mariano Rivera earned his 35th save of the season with a scoreless ninth.

The Yankees finished the season series 5-1 against the Tigers and outscored them by 20 runs during those games. Next up for the Yankees is a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who have looked like a decent team lately. David Wells (13-6, 4.27) gets the start in the first game, which will be Friday at 7:05 pm. Rob Bell (4-3, 5.38) will take the mound for the visiting D-Rays.

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