Giambi Blasts Yankees to Victory 11-6

Super Mariano saves the day with 3 innings

You could tell last night's Yankees-Tigers game was going to be an odd one just from the first inning. Melky Cabrera led off the ball game for the Bombers with a triple and was stranded. The Tigers loaded the bases off Yankees starter Aaron Small with no one out and didn't score. The Yankees defense and bullpen blew a 6-1 lead. Mariano Rivera pitched 3 innings in a regular season game for the first time in 10 years. Finally, Jason Giambi blasted a solo home run to ignite a 5 run 11th inning to give the Yankees an 11-6 victory and a share of first place with the Boston Red Sox.

Giambi's home run, his 13th of the season, off Tigers closer Todd Jones was his first since May 10 and just his 5th RBI in his last 61 at-bats. Alex Rodriguez and Kelly Stinnett followed with singles, before Robinson Cano's force out put runners on the corners with just one down. Bernie Williams who has struggled from the left side all season, hit a frozen rope to right that went off the wrist of a leaping Ordonez. A-Rod scored and Cano raced to 3rd. A walk to Terrence Long loaded the bases and chased Jones from the game. Chris Spurling threw fuel on the fire as he gave up a two run single to Andy Phillips (4 RBI on the night) and Melky Cabrera's 4th hit of the night for the final run of the inning. Rivera (3-3) was sharp, using just 25 pitches to retire 9 of the 10 men he faced in his longest regular season stint since September 6, 1996.

The Yankees looked in the early goings as if the night might be a blowout, but a crucial error by Derek Jeter and some shoddy pitching by Kyle Farnsworth made it a must win game. Leading 6-1 in the fifth, with one on and none out, Jeter misplayed a potential double play grounder by Placido Polanco into an error. The ball rolled up Jeter's arms and ricocheted into short center field. By the time Robinson Cano tracked it down, the Tigers had two runners in scoring position with no one out. Ivan Rodriguez then ripped one up the alley in right-center for a two run triple, and scored one batter later on Magglio Ordonez's single to cut the lead to 6-4. Aaron Small hoping to still pull out a win then retired the next three hitters in a row to escape further trouble, but the Tigers weren't done chipping away.

Curtis Granderson's RBI single in the 6th off Scott Erickson close the gap to 6-5. After Scott Proctor bounced back from recent shaky outings with a 1-2-3 7th, Kyle Farnsworth immediately got into trouble in the 8th by walking Chris Shelton to start the inning. Craig Monroe followed with a single and the previously subdued crowd was back into the game. Farnsworth worked Marcus Thames to a full count before walking him on a pitch well out of the strike zone. With the bases loaded and none out the Yankees played at double play depth.

Brandon Inge gave the Yankees exactly what they needed, a ground ball, but the Yankees could only get the force at second as Inge barely beat the throw to first. Pinch-runner Ramon Santiago scored on the play to tie the game at 6-6 and the Tigers still had a major threat going with runners on the corners and just one out. But Farnsworth responded, striking out Curtis Granderson looking and getting Placido Polanco swinging to escape further trouble.

After stranding Cabrera at third with none out in the first, the Yankees pushed 4 runs across in the second. Singles by Jorge Posada, Cano, and Long loaded the bases and Posada came home on Roman Colon's wild pitch for the first run of the game. A Phillips single and a double by Cabrera brought home two more runs and the final run of the inning came home on a ground out by Jeter.

Notes

Gary Sheffield sat out last night's game with pain in his wrist and is most likely headed for the disabled list once again. Johnny Damon was used only as a pinch-runner as his sore foot prevented him from being in the starting lineup. He will most likely sit out again tonight.

Derek Jeter didn't miss any time after jamming his right wrist in Monday's game, but had a rough night going 0-5 with an error and was hit by a pitch. It marked just the 2nd time all season that Jeter went hitless in consecutive games.

Bernie Williams went 3-5 to raise his average to .275. It was his third 3-hit game in the last 7 games played. He also drove in a pair of runs.