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Yankees-Tigers Preview

May 13, 2010 - 4:46 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

New York (21-10) at Detroit (18-14), 1:05 p.m. EDT

One day after the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees were each shut out during a doubleheader, there's good reason to believe both may struggle to score again.

Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia square off in a matchup of elite aces as the Yankees try to salvage a split of a four-game series at Comerica Park on Thursday afternoon.

Detroit became the first team to blank the Yankees in a 2-0 win Wednesday afternoon, but New York (22-11) returned the favor and snapped its first three-game losing streak with an 8-0 victory in the nightcap.

Neither team's lineup will have an enviable task Thursday, with two pitchers on the mound who finished among the top four in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2009.

Sabathia (4-1, 3.04 ERA) has gotten off to the better start. Only a rain delay kept him from his fifth victory Saturday at Boston, as he was forced from the game after play was stopped with two outs in the fifth inning of the Yankees' 14-3 win.

It wasn't the best outing for the left-hander, who gave up a season-high two home runs.

"His fastball was cutting, and that's happened a little bit with him," manager Joe Girardi told the Yankees' official website. "He wasn't as sharp as he's been, but he managed to pitch a pretty good game for us."

Sabathia is 14-10 with a 4.50 ERA against Detroit - tied for his most losses versus any opponent.

He has already faced Verlander twice since joining the Yankees last year. Verlander pitched seven shutout innings in a 4-2 home win April 27, 2009, then Sabathia went seven scoreless in a 2-1 victory in New York on July 18.

"These guys, it's hard to score three or four runs against guys like CC and Verlander," Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said after last July's matchup. "We knew one or two runs would win the game."

Verlander (3-2, 4.50) appears primed to engage in another duel as he recovers from a rocky April. The right-hander went 1-2 with a 5.53 ERA in the season's first month but is 2-0 with a 2.51 ERA in May.

He walked four but struck out nine and held Cleveland to three runs in six innings of a 6-4 win Saturday.

"There are some situations where he's got to understand that strikeouts are not the most important thing, but I think he's got the capability of doing that when he gets into a jam, and that's important," manager Jim Leyland told the Tigers' official website.

The Tigers (19-15) hope Verlander can bring them another home win after they had a six-game run at Comerica Park snapped Wednesday night.

New York is trying to avoid its second series loss of the season. The Yankees dropped two of three in Anaheim from April 23-25.

Detroit's Johnny Damon homered in a 5-4 victory Monday night in his first game against the team he won the World Series with last year, but he went 1 for 7 in the doubleheader.