The New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers finally got Game 1 into the box on Saturday, some 24 hours after it should have ended. A large rain-storm on Friday night threw the series schedule off, forcing the two teams to pick the action back up on Saturday with the score tied at one.
The Yankees were able to take care of the Tigers to snag the early 1-0 series lead with a strong 9-3 win on Saturday night. Below are the highlights from the marathon live-blog, which began with the first pitch on Friday, was interrupted by rain, and ended on Saturday night.
Play resumed in the bottom of the second on Saturday, with Doug Fister on the mound as a "reliever." The Yankees quickly put runners on second and third, only to see Jorge Posada get thrown out 90 feet from the plate as he was caught napping on a ground to the left side of the infield. Though Fister struggled, he was able to make it out of the inning alive.
That didn't mean the end of trouble, though. See, while facing Derek Jeter, Fister balked, pushing runners to second and third once more. But no matter! On four pitches, Jeter whiffed. And then, on eight pitches, Curtis Granderson whiffed. The Yankees had good chances to take the lead with talented hitters at the plate, but a baserunning mistake and two strikeouts allowed Fister to escape unscathed.
In the fifth, Ivan Nova worked himself into a jam, but with a nice relay from Derek Jeter, the Yankees were able to escape with the score still knotted at one. As you can see below, Russell Martin almost had his head taken off.
In the bottom of the inning, Robinson Cano broke the tie, doubling off the top of the wall on a ball that came just inches from leaving the yard -- the play was reviewed and the double was confirmed. Just an inning later, though, Fister crumbled, and the Yankees plated all the runs they needed. After giving up two more runs, Fister left the game in favor of Al Alburquerque, who Cano promptly welcomed with a grand slam.
The right-handed Alburquerque gave the left-handed Robinson Cano an 0-and-1 slider inside, and Cano pulled it way out to deep, deep right for a grand slam that blew the game open. Three of the four runs were charged to Fister, and one to Alburquerque, but that doesn't really matter - what matters is that the Yankees all but have a 1-0 series lead. Just the way they drew it up!
It was all Yankees would need as they cruised to a 9-3 Game 1 win to take the first game of the series.
For more on this game, check out the rest of the live-blog and Jeff Sullivan's recap.