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Martinez hits 3 HRs in Tigers' rout of Yankees

Jun 21, 2015 - 10:28 PM Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - J.D. Martinez homered three times and knocked in six runs in a career day that carried the Detroit Tigers to a 12-4 drubbing of the New York Yankees.

After witnessing the Yankees slug eight homers in taking the first two tests of this three-game set, the Tigers showed some muscle of their own by going deep five times in the finale. Victor Martinez and Andrew Romine also homered for the visitors, with the former collecting four RBI on a 3-for-6 performance at the plate.

Three of the long balls were served up by Masahiro Tanaka (4-3) as the Yankees ace was pelted for seven runs -- five earned -- over five innings in his worst start of the season.

"He didn't have it today, and they made him pay," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Tanaka.

The outburst halted the Tigers' four-game skid and overshadowed another solid start in June for Anibal Sanchez (6-7), who allowed three runs and seven hits through seven innings to win a third consecutive assignment.

Stephen Drew swatted a pair of solo homers in the loss, which snapped New York's four-game win streak. Brian McCann finished 2-for-4 with a solo shot as well in defeat.

Victor Martinez started Detroit's power display by following a Miguel Cabrera single with a first-inning shot into the second deck in right. J.D. Martinez delivered a two-run homer of his own off Tanaka two batters later, after an error by Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius extended the frame.

"When Victor hit that ball in the first inning, it kind of relieved the pressure on a lot of guys," J.D. Martinez remarked.

Tanaka's struggles extended into the next inning as well. The Tigers loaded the bases on singles by Romine and Rajai Davis and a walk to Cabrera, and Victor Martinez took an 0-2 pitch up the middle for a two-out hit that put Detroit up 6-0.

Sanchez, meanwhile, endured only one poor inning. McCann crushed a splitter over the bleachers in right center in the bottom of the second, during which New York drew closer when Chris Young singled and came around on a base hit from Brendan Ryan.

Tanaka briefly got back on track by holding the Tigers scoreless in the third and fourth, but J.D. Martinez opened the fifth with a 442-foot blast to center to achieve his first career multi-homer game.

Detroit then put the contest well out of reach with Tanaka out of the game in the sixth. After reliever Danny Burawa walked Cabrera in front of singles from Victor Martinez and Cespedes that brought in a run, J.D. Martinez took a fastball the other way for home run No. 3 and an 11-2 advantage.

"It was just one of those days where you take your swings and you are actually hitting the ball the way you want to hit it," J.D. Martinez said afterward.

The light-hitting Romine got into the act later in the sixth by homering on new pitcher Jose De Paula's initial offering.

Drew connected on his 10th homer of the season to begin the bottom of the seventh, just the second hit Sanchez allowed after the third inning. He took Joakim Soria over the wall in right in his next at-bat for the Yankees' final run in the ninth.

J.D. Martinez had a chance to tie baseball's single-game record for homers when he stepped to the plate in the eighth, but flew out against De Paula.

Game Notes

J.D. Martinez became only the second Tiger to hit three homers at Yankee Stadium, joining Pat Mullin on June 26, 1949. Cabrera was the last Detroit player to accomplish the feat at Texas on May 13, 2013 ... Tanaka's seven runs and five earned allowed matched a career high set in a 1 2/3-inning stint at Boston on Sept. 27 of last season ... Burawa and De Paula both made their major league debuts. Burawa was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre prior to the game, with outfielder Mason Williams (shoulder) placed on the 15-day disabled list ... McCann's homer ended Sanchez's streak of 22 consecutive scoreless innings ... Drew recorded his third multi-homer outing since June 5.