The lead changed hands four times before the sixth inning settled it. Paul Goldschmidt hit a home run in the first and another in the third, Jasson Dominguez broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run shot in the sixth, and the New York Yankees left Detroit with a 4-2 victory Wednesday night at Comerica Park.
Goldschmidt was the engine of the offense, going 2-for-4 with two home runs and two RBI. He opened the scoring with a solo shot to left in the first, then answered Detroit's tying run with another solo homer to left center in the third — 427 feet, the longer of the two. He carries a .297 average with 14 home runs and 39 RBI on the season. Ryan Weathers earned the win, allowing 2 runs — 1 earned — on 6 hits over 6.0 innings, striking out 6 and walking 2, with a 3.95 ERA. David Bednar worked the ninth for his 16th save, allowing one hit and striking out one.
Detroit answered each of the first two New York runs. In the second, Zach McKinstry singled to center and Torkelson scored to tie it at 1-1. In the fourth, Ben Malgeri's sacrifice fly to right brought Torkelson home again, knotting the game at 2-2. But in the sixth, from a tied game, Dominguez homered to left — 382 feet — with Rice scoring ahead of him, giving New York a 4-2 lead it would not relinquish. It was the go-ahead play that decided the game. Dominguez finished 1-for-4 with one home run and 2 RBI.
Tarik Skubal absorbed the loss, falling to 3-4. He allowed all 4 runs on 4 hits over 6.0 innings, striking out 9 without issuing a walk on 85 pitches. Skubal pitched well enough to win most nights. His ERA: 3.32. Spencer Torkelson scored twice for Detroit, and Hao Yu Lee went 2-for-3 with a walk, but the Tigers could not find the answer after the sixth.
New York improved to 47-31, sitting atop their division. Detroit fell to 34-45, fourth in theirs.