The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers 9-4 Friday night behind a strong pitching performance from CC Sabathia and a grand slam from Curtis Granderson.
Detroit struck first, scoring in the bottom of the first, but the Yankees answered back immediately. They drew four walks to tie the game, then Granderson added the grand slam to right to break it open at 5-1. Detroit would add another two in the third and one in the eighth, and the Yankees added one in the fourth and two in the ninth on an Alex Rodriguez home run. Derek Jeter went 2-4 with a walk.
Sabathia pitched seven innings, giving up eight hits and three runs. He struck out five and walked two over 113 pitches. Boone Logan, Cory Wade, Cody Eppley, and Clay Rapada made relief appearances, though Eppley failed to record an out. Rafael Soriano earned his seventh save of the year when he entered the game with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth and got Miguel Cabrera to ground into a double play.
With the win the Yankees improve to 28-23. Game two of the three game series is Saturday night at 7:15pm EDT.
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