Tigers 8, Yankees 1: Max Scherzer struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings and Jhonny Peralta belted a pair of home runs as host Detroit completed a sweep of the American League Championship Series to earn its 11th World Series appearance.
Miguel Cabrera and Austin Jackson also went deep for the Tigers, who await the winner of the National League Championship Series between St. Louis and San Francisco.
New York ace CC Sabathia (0-1) was pounded for six runs - five earned - and 11 hits in just 3 2/3 innings as the Yankees were swept in a playoff series for the first time since Kansas City accomplished the feat in the best-of-five 1980 ALCS.
Scherzer (1-0) was sensational over the first five frames, keeping New York hitless while fanning nine. The right-hander, who finished second in the major leagues in strikeouts to teammate Justin Verlander during the regular season, had his no-hit bid halted when Eduardo Nunez led off the sixth with a triple.
After striking out twice, Nick Swisher hit a one-out RBI double to get the Yankees on the board. Scherzer exited after issuing a two-out walk to Mark Teixeira, and Drew Smyly induced a flyout by pinch hitter Alex Rodriguez to end any thoughts of a comeback.
Octavio Dotel struck out two in the seventh and former Yankee Phil Coke retired all six batters he faced to clinch Detroit's first World Series berth since 2006, when it lost in five games to the Cardinals.
New York's lone early threat came in the third inning, when Nunez reached on an error with two outs and stole second before Ichiro Suzuki walked. But Scherzer, who struck out four of the first six batters he faced, fanned Swisher to escape unscathed.
Rookie Avisail Garcia gave Detroit a 2-0 lead with an RBI infield single in the bottom of the frame, and the Tigers teed off on Sabathia in the fourth to take control. Omar Infante hit a one-out single and Cabrera drilled Sabathia's first offering deep into the seats in left field to double the advantage.
Delmon Young, who opened the scoring with a first-inning RBI single, kept the frame alive with a two-out single and Peralta launched the first of his two blasts to left, making it 6-0. Jackson, a former Yankee prospect, led off the seventh with a homer off Derek Lowe and Peralta added a solo shot in the eighth against David Robertson to cap the scoring.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Yankees were swept in a seven-game series three other times, all in the World Series. The 1922 New York Giants, 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers and 1976 Cincinnati Reds all accomplished the feat, although the 1922 Series also had one game ruled a tie due to darkness. ... Yankees 2B Robinson Cano was hitless in four at-bats to end his postseason with a 1-for-34 run. ... New York's Curtis Granderson, who was kept out of the starting lineup for the first time this postseason, entered as a pinch hitter in the seventh and struck out. Granderson went 3-for-30 in the playoffs with a whopping 16 strikeouts. ... Rodriguez went 0-for-2 and finished the postseason 3-for-25 with 12 strikeouts.
NY Yankees | Detroit | |
CC Sabathia | Player | Max Scherzer |
Loss | W/L | Win |
3.2 | IP | 5.2 |
3 | Strikeouts | 10 |
11 | Hits | 2 |
12.27 | ERA | 1.59 |
NY Yankees | Detroit | |
Eduardo Nunez | Player | Andy Dirks |
1 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 4 |
.333 | Avg | .600 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
NY Yankees | 2 | 0 | 5 | .067 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Detroit | 16 | 4 | 30 | .381 | 21 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 |