And just like that, Valverde summons his inner Armando Benitez and gives up a two run homer to Ichiro in the 9th and the Yankees cut the lead in half with one swing. So much for the shutout.
Here's the problem for the Yankees though. Girardi used so many pitchers the last couple innings and has already burned his big long man, that it's going to put them into a very precarious situation the longer this goes on.
They are built for this ballpark and the longer it goes on in extra innings all it takes is one jack shot on a mistake pitch as the Tigers bullpen continues to thin out and this game will be over.
They come up empty on both. Once again, they can't get a base hit whenever they need it.
But they hit home runs. And that's why they're here right now in this series while the other teams are putting on their golf shorts and polishing their putters.
