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Yanks' Greene shuts down struggling Tigers

Aug 7, 2014 - 10:59 PM Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Shane Greene provided another lift to the New York Yankees' lesser-regarded rotation, firing eight-plus scoreless innings to help the Bronx Bombers close out a four-game series with the Detroit Tigers with a 1-0 victory.

Greene (3-1) followed Chris Capuano's sharp effort in Wednesday's 5-1 win with an even better performance. The rookie yielded just five singles and three walks while keeping Detroit's slumping offense off the board in the longest outing of his brief big league career.

"Starting pitchers, when you see one guy do good and the next guy do good and start to get on a roll, it's kind of like hitting," said Greene. "Hopefully we can keep it going."

Despite sending out a former Cy Young winner in each of the first three matchups, the Tigers dropped three of the four tests in the set, mainly due to a lineup that was held to just six runs by the Yankee arms.

"Our guys pitched great, but as well as we pitched and played defense, our offense didn't match up," Tigers catcher Alex Avila remarked.

Rick Porcello (13-6) was victimized by Detroit's lack of production in the finale, denied a chance at a 14th win despite scattering nine hits over seven innings of one-run ball.

Stephen Drew knocked in what turned out to be the game's only run with a ground-rule double in the fourth inning.

Drew's two-out slicer down the left-field line that bounced in the stands and brought in Carlos Beltran was also the lone extra-base hit by either team in a contest dominated by both starting hurlers.

Porcello had retired the opening two hitters of the bottom of the fourth before Beltran laced a single and Chase Headley followed with a base hit in front of Drew's double.

Greene's only real trouble situation occurred when he was reached for back-to- back hits by Ezequiel Carrera and Ian Kinsler that put runners at the corners with one out in the sixth. The young righty responded with his best pitch of the game, a sinker that slugger Victor Martinez rolled over on to produce an inning-ending double play.

"Greeney today, it was fun to watch," said Drew. "He was dominant."

New York was able to induce another game-saving twin-killing later on, this time with closer David Robertson on the hill attempting to protect the lead in the ninth.

Kinsler chased Greene with a leadoff single and Robertson walked Martinez to bring the tying run in scoring position. Up stepped Miguel Cabrera in a pinch- hitting role, but Robertson got the two-time AL MVP to hit a chopper that Yankee infielder Brendan Ryan gloved and stepped on second before completing the double play.

Robertson then finished off his 31st save by retiring Don Kelly on a pop-up.

Porcello was also aided by a pair of double plays on the afternoon, and he kept the Tigers close by working out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.

Singles by Ichiro Suzuki and Brett Gardner around a hit batsman filled the sacks for Martin Prado, who hit into a force play to end New York's threat.

Game Notes

Greene had been 0-1 with a 5.73 ERA over his first two Yankee Stadium starts ... The Tigers went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, one day after an 0-for-7 showing in such situations in Wednesday's setback ... Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira did not play after cutting his left finger on a slide in Wednesday's game ... Suzuki finished 2-for-3 for New York.