Gleyber Torres tipped his helmet and received a video tribute early in his return to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.
A short time later, Torres contributed to one of the biggest innings of the season for the Detroit Tigers.
Torres and the Tigers will attempt to secure a series victory on Wednesday night when they continue their three-game set against the New York Yankees.
The Tigers (83-62) opened the series by scoring nine times in the seventh inning and the final 12 runs of Tuesday’s 12-2 rout. Detroit matched its most runs in an inning this season and scored double-digit runs for the 15th time after Torres got his warm reception.
“It’s nice to see everybody pay respect to Gleyber,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of Torres, 28, who signed a one-year, free-agent contract with Detroit in December after playing for the Yankees from 2018 to 2024. “For his time here, his relationships here, it’s hard to come into this building and get cheered by the fans here from the other side. So it was a good moment for him.”
Torres doubled in his first at-bat Tuesday, drew a bases-loaded walk and scored on a two-run triple by Kerry Carpenter.
Parker Meadows hit a tying two-run homer and go-ahead single for the Tigers, who won for only the fifth time in 14 games.
“Just really good at-bats,” Hinch said. “We put nine at-bats in a row that were extremely good. So it was nice to see us be able to put some at-bats together.”
The Yankees (80-64) are 11-4 in their past 15 games and trail the first-place Toronto Blue Jays by three games in the American League East. New York was held to four hits on Tuesday.
Aaron Judge hit his 359th career homer to pass Yogi Berra for fifth place on the Yankees’ all-time list. Cody Bellinger also went deep, but the Yankees struck out 12 times and saw relievers Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. combine to allow nine runs, four hits and four walks without retiring a batter.
“Just like we’ve all season, we’ve got some tough ones and we just got to show up and win the next one,” Judge said.
Left-hander Carlos Rodon (16-7, 3.12 ERA) will attempt to surpass his career-high win total from last season for the Yankees. Rodon is 5-0 with a 2.05 ERA over his past five starts and allowed one earned run in six innings in Thursday’s 8-4 win at Houston.
He yielded six runs (five earned) in six innings to take the loss April 7 in Detroit. He is 6-5 with a 5.64 ERA in 14 career starts against the Tigers.
Right-hander Jack Flaherty (7-13, 4.85), who is 2-4 with a 5.28 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break, will pitch for the Tigers. Detroit is 8-20 in his starts this season, and he last pitched in a 7-5 loss to the visiting Chicago White Sox on Friday when he allowed four runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision.
Flaherty yielded three hits in 5 1/3 scoreless innings during a no-decision against the Yankees in Detroit on April 9. He is 1-0 in two career scoreless starts against the Yankees and faced them twice in the World Series last season in a pair of no-decisions for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
–Field Level Media
