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Tigers' bullpen shuts down vaunted Yankee lineup

Oct 5, 2006 - 8:48 PM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Jim Leyland called the New York Yankees "Murderers' Row and Cano." But they did not seem to bother Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones.

With a fastball that reached 103 miles per hour at times, Zumaya struck out three of the five batters he faced and Jones closed it out in the ninth to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 4-3 victory over the heavily-favored Yankees to even their American League Division Series at a game apiece.

Game Three is Friday night at Detroit.

Appearing in the playoffs for the first time since 1987, the Tigers were not given much of a chance to beat the Yankees, who finished with the best record in the American League and were the highest-scoring team in the majors.

Even Leyland, the Tigers manager, called the Yankees "Murderers' Row and then (Robinson) Cano" before the start of the series.

New York flexed its muscle in the series opener, posting an 8-4 victory here on Tuesday night.

Game Two was scheduled for Wednesday night, but was postponed to Thursday afternoon due to rain.

The delay did not seem to affect the Yankees, who took a 3-1 lead on a three-run homer by Johnny Damon in the fourth inning. Those were the only runs allowed by rookie righthander Justin Verlander, who pitched 5 1/3 innings.

The Tigers' bullpen shut down the vaunted Yankees' lineup the rest of the way. Jamie Walker (1-0) retired Cano on an inning-ending double play grounder and Damon on a soft liner to second.

Zumaya, who finished third among AL relievers with 97 strikeouts, victimized Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez among the five outs he recorded. Rodriguez, who is batting just .128 in his last 11 postseason games, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

Jones, the franchise's all-time saves leader, yielded a leadoff single to Hideki Matsui in the ninth before retiring the next three batters.

Curtis Granderson drove in two runs, including the go-ahead RBI triple in the seventh inning, for the Tigers and former Yankee Marcus Thames had three hits, including an RBI single.

Thames doubled in the fifth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Granderson to pull the Tigers within 3-2.

Carlos Guillen then hit a solo homer off Mike Mussina (0-1) in the sixth inning to tie the game.

Thames then led off the seventh with a single to left for his third hit of the day. He advanced to second on a passed ball and moved to third on a sacrifice by Brandon Inge. Granderson followed with a triple to the gap in left center.