DETROIT — My, how things can change in a little more than a month.
On June 3, New York Yankees starter Phil Hughes came in and dominated the Tigers in a complete game, winning 5-1, against Justin Verlander no less.
On Tuesday night, it was a very different story.
The Tigers (60-50) beat the Yankees, 6-5, for their 10th straight victory at home. In their last 17 home games, they have gone 16-1, the best stretch in a 17-game span at home since going 16-1 from June 2-July 15, 1919, according to STATS LLC.
Rick Porcello was excellent in his quality start of 6 2/3 innings, allowing just three runs on eight hits while striking out three.
Miguel Cabrera was his usual stellar self, hitting his 29th home run and then driving in two more with a double.
But manager Jim Leyland appropriately wanted to mention what he considered the at-bat of the night, which took place in the fourth, the same inning as Cabrera's homer.
After Prince Fielder struck out, Brennan Boesch made Hughes work. And work. And work some more. After fouling off eight pitches in a 12-pitch at-bat, Boesch singled, eventually scoring on Jhonny Peralta's double.
"I don't know how many pitches it was, but it was a terrific at-bat," Leyland said. "We really took Hughes' pitch count from nothing to something. I thought that was the key to the game. I think that's when we won the game, in the fourth inning, the way we grinded out our at-bats."
Boesch, who said he was pretty tired himself after that at-bat, was pleased to be able to make Hughes expend extra energy early in the game.
"I think every ballplayer knows that if you have lengthy at-bats, it's helping the team because a pitcher's whole job is to have quick innings and keep their pitch count down," Boesch said. "He was actually making some pretty good pitches that I was just fouling off. I really can't remember an at-bat in which I fouled off more pitches than that."
Leyland said he praised his hitters during the game for that inning, saying that they had a chance to get Hughes out early because of it. Hughes faced four batters in the fifth, allowing two more runs, and his night was over.
"In the fourth inning, he saw six hitters and made 44 pitches and that kind of wore him down," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We were hoping he could get through five but he wasn’t able to get through that fifth. His velocity was still pretty good but he was up around 100 pitches by the time I took him out. They just put him in long counts and finally got a pitch they could hit."
In that first start, Hughes was so dominant that he had Leyland frustrated, especially with his left-handed hitters. That day they did not adjust to what Hughes was doing.
On Tuesday, they had a much better approach.
"I think last time he was getting us out a lot on pitches inside and he likes to elevate the fastball, too, with two strikes and we did a better job of laying off that pitch," Boesch said. "Guys just got some key hits when it counted."
In fairness, the Tigers were missing more than a few guys the last time the Yankees were in town.
Now, things are finally coming together and they're playing the way they want to play.
"Last time we played these guys, I was hurt, Gerald (Laird) was hurt, Andy (Dirks) was hurt, Austin (Jackson) was hurt, so we were pretty banged up," Alex Avila said. "Doug (Fister) was hurt. So we’re a little bit different team at this point in the season than we were earlier in the season. And it’s showing. Guys can kind of taste the end of the season, and we can taste the playoffs. We want it."
The win coupled with the Chicago White Sox's loss to the Kansas City Royals means the Tigers are just a half-game back in the Central Division.
