Kevin McGonigle had two hits and drove in two runs, Framber Valdez pitched six strong innings and the host Detroit Tigers extended their winning streak to four games with a 5-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday.
Valdez (4-5) limited New York to one run and four hits while striking out eight and walking two. Will Vest recorded the last four outs for his second save.
Detroit’s Riley Greene hit a solo homer and scored twice and Spencer Torkelson added two hits and an RBI.
Amed Rosario hit a two-run homer to lead New York’s offense. Ali Sanchez had an RBI double while Paul Goldschmidt and Anthony Volpe each collected two hits for the Yankees, who have lost four of their past five games.
Sanchez was removed in the seventh inning after getting hit in the wrist by a pitch.
Gerrit Cole (2-2), who came in with a 10-1 record in 14 career starts against Detroit, was tagged for five runs and nine hits (both season-high totals) in 4 1/3 innings. He issued one walk and fanned five.
The Yankees scored the first run in the second inning. Jose Caballero drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored on Sanchez’s double.
Detroit erased the deficit with three runs in the third. Zach McKinstry led off with a triple and scored on McGonigle’s groundout. Kerry Carpenter reached on an infield hit with two down, and Greene walked. Torkelson punched a single to center to score Carpenter, and Greene came home on Colt Keith’s single to center.
Detroit made it 4-1 in the fourth. Hao-Yu Lee led off with a single and scored on McGonigle’s one-out double to left.
Greene extended the lead to four runs leading off the fifth, when he jumped on a Cole changeup and sent it into the right-center-field bleachers. The homer was his ninth of the season.
After Sanchez was hit by a pitch from Drew Anderson with two outs in the seventh, Rosario smacked an opposite-field homer to pull New York within 5-3.
New York had a threat going in the eighth against Drew Sommers. Volpe reached on a two-out infield single and moved to second on another infield hit by Jazz Chisholm Jr. Vest replaced Sommers and struck out Jasson Dominguez on three pitches.
