NEW YORK — Detroit Tigers right-hander Beau Brieske stood on the mound Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, less than 24 hours after the New York Yankees rocked fellow rookie righty Elvin Rodriguez for a whopping 10 runs in the series opener.
Brieske pitched much better.
The 24-year-old held the red-hot Yankees to two runs over six innings and racked up a career-high seven strikeouts, but two home runs from the Bronx Bombers made the difference.
“I felt pretty comfortable executing three pitches, pretty much the entire game on both sides of the plate,” Brieske said. “I would say that’s probably the most like myself I’ve felt all year.”
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The Yankees won again, 3-0, in the second of the weekend’s three games; the Tigers haven’t scored since the eighth inning of Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park.
“We’re trying not to ride the roller coaster,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “but we’ve gotten shoved pretty hard in the last couple of games. We need to bounce back. It’s an early game (11:35 a.m.) tomorrow. Our guys are still battling, it’s just we’re getting beat.”
The Tigers (21-32) have managed a woeful four hits in New York, along with an 18 inning scoreless streak. In Friday’s game, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole took a perfect game into the seventh inning.
“We’ve had a hard time offensively for a while, and then we’ve had some spurts where we’ve done a little bit better,” Hinch said. “I don’t really care who gets the credit or who gets the blame. I think we just try to come out and win a game tomorrow and get out of here with a win.”
On Saturday, Yankees right-hander Luis Severino tossed seven scoreless innings, conceding just one hit and one walk with 10 strikeouts. Two righty relievers, Michael King and Clay Holmes, chipped in the final two scoreless frames.
The Tigers’ lone hit came on a hard-hit single from Miguel Cabrera to open the second inning. Their only other base runner, Derek Hill, drew a six-pitch walk with one out in the third.
“He’s almost the same, like Cole,” third baseman Jeimer Candelario said of Severino. “He has an explosive fastball, and you got to be on top of him. It’s almost the same.”
Javier Báez, down to hitting .190 in 42 games, finished 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. Cabrera, hitting .288 in 45 games, went 1-for-3 with two strikeouts. Leadoff hitter Willi Castro also struck out twice.
Pinch-hitter Spencer Torkelson struck out swinging for the second out in the ninth inning.
“We’re all frustrated,” Hinch said of Báez. “We want better for him. He wants better for himself. We got to get inside the strike zone because the league is obviously going to continue to tease him around the strike zone until he adjusts.”
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Here comes the Judge
New York’s offense grabbed a 1-0 advantage on the first pitch.
Leading off for the Yankees, Aaron Judge crushed a home run to right-center on Brieske’s first-pitch 95.3 mph four-seam fastball in the first inning. His first career leadoff blast traveled 378 feet.
Judge, the American League Player of the Month in May, has 21 home runs in 51 games this season. The Tigers, as a team, have 30 home runs in 53 games, led by Candelario and Jonathan Schoop with five each.
“I’m attacking and trying to get in the zone to throw a first-pitch strike, and he was on time with the heater,” Brieske said. “It’s Aaron Judge, and he’s going to get you sometimes. I feel like we adjusted well, though, in the next at-bats he came up there.”
The Yankees averaged a 100.5 mph exit velocity against Brieske — not a good sign — but the developing pitcher adjusted from the onset of the second. He didn’t shy away from using his slider — a work in progress — to keep his opponents from sitting on his fastball and changeup.
Brieske, who conceded three hits and one walk, posted zeros on the scoreboard in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, before Anthony Rizzo tacked on the Yankees’ second run with two outs in the sixth.
“I just enjoyed myself out there instead of pressing,” Brieske said. “I allowed the game to come to me and fed off the energy of the crowd, just the atmosphere. I had a lot of fun out there. It gives me confidence knowing I can go against this lineup. It’s a good lineup. But if I execute my stuff, I’m going to give my team a chance.”
Rizzo hammered Brieske’s first-pitch slider for a solo home run, traveling 387 feet to right field. Rizzo, who re-signed with the Yankees in the offseason after being acquired from the Cubs at the 2021 trade deadline, boasts 13 homers in 52 games this season.
For his 83 pitches (52 strikes), Brieske tossed 33 four-seam fastballs (41%), 26 sliders (33%), 15 changeups (19%), four two-seam fastballs (5%) and two curveballs (3%). He generated 11 swings and misses, including three each with his slider and changeup.
Entering Saturday’s start, Brieske had thrown four-seamers 54.2% of the time, changeups 23.6% and sliders 15.4%. He has given up 12 home runs across 42 innings in eight starts.
“It made a huge difference,” Hinch said of Brieske’s slider. “Being able to spin it is a game changer. If you’re going to last two or three times through the lineup against elite teams, that’s how you want to pitch.”
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Trouble in the eighth
Replacing Brieske, right-handed reliever Jason Foley pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
The trouble began in the eighth, when righty Joe Jiménez let the first three batters reach safely: Kyle Higashioka (walk), Aaron Hicks (single) and Judge (walk). Josh Donaldson then delivered a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 Yankees lead.
To counter Rizzo, a left-handed hitter, the Tigers called left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin out of the bullpen with two runners in scoring position. Chafin struck out Rizzo swinging with a slider. Giancarlo Stanton then lined out to end the inning.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.