A tired Doug Fister slung the pitch right down the middle of the plate and the ball went flying off of the bat of Curtis Granderson and right into the second-deck giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead in the seventh as New York took the first game of the American League Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers 6-3 on Saturday night.
The Yankees took an early lead in the first inning on an Alex Rodriguez RBI double to the right corner. Despite Rodriguez's recent struggles, the Yankee third baseman finished the game 2-4 with a double and a homerun.
Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte held Detroit to five scoreless innings, before the Tigers got on the board in the sixth inning. The 40-year-old pitcher did a great job holding the Tigers big bats n Miguel Cabrera, who won the Triple Crown, and Prince Fielder in check.
But Detroit scored three runs in the innings on a three run homer by Fielder and took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Fister had tossed a 102 pitches going into the inning, but despite the high pitch count Detroit's manager kept the tired pitcher in the game. The Yankees started the inning off with a Derek Jeter single, and Granderson brought the captain home with a two run shot.
Alex Rodriguez would add insurance runs on two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. The 37-year-old Rodriguez was hitless in 12 at-bats against right-handed pitchers with nine strikeouts, but seemed to find his stroke against the Tigers.
In the ninth, Rafael Soriano came in and struck out the side, as the Yankees are now one game closer to a World Series appearance. For Game 2 of the ALCS, Yankees manager Joe Girardi will go with starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda against Anibal Sanchez.
Do you think MLB 2K12 got the game right? Check out our simulation of game one of the ALCS here. Comment or just complain about A-Rod below...