Cabrera, Hunter help Tigers pound Yankees

Bronx, NY – Miguel Cabrera and Torii Hunter each had three hits and a homer, Anibal Sanchez fired seven strong innings and the Detroit Tigers romped the New York Yankees, 9-3, to rebound from their first loss in over two weeks.

New York ended the Tigers' 12-game winning streak in Friday's series opener, but received another poor start out of Phil Hughes while managing little production offensively to drop its sixth contest in eight games.

"It was a good win to come back after a tough loss last night," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Obviously got some big hits and we made some good defensive plays."

The Tigers, meanwhile, boasted a 17-hit performance at the plate. Austin Jackson had a solo homer with three runs scored and Hunter broke the game open in the sixth with three-run homer, ending with four RBI on the afternoon.

Sanchez (10-7) fanned eight while stifling the Yankee bats, with the only blemish on his four-hit performance occurring on a two-run homer from Lyle Overbay, who knocked in all three of New York's runs.

Winless over his last six outings, Hughes (4-11) was yanked after permitting four runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He hasn't won since July 2 and has dropped 10 of his last 12 decisions overall.

"I think it's just consistency," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Hughes' struggles. "He's worked very hard in between starts and trying to fix things, but it hasn't happened on a consistent basis."

Jackson laced a triple into center field three pitches into the game, then put the Tigers ahead 1-0 when he scored on Hunter's sacrifice fly.

Cabrera homered for the second straight day, with his 35th of the season sailing over the left field wall in the third to give the Tigers a two-run cushion.

Alfonso Soriano and Curtis Granderson each struck out to end the fourth, botching New York's best scoring opportunity that saw the team put runners at second and third with one out.

Jackson had his fifth extra base hit of the series in the fifth, with Hughes serving up a out-out solo shot to the leadoff hitter and then exiting in a 3-0 hole after giving up a single to Hunter.

Preston Claiborne came on in relief and didn't fair much better. He yielded a single to Cabrera upon his entrance, then a two-out RBI double to Victor Martinez. Don Kelly, who also had three hits for Detroit, then drove a single to center to knock in Cabrera and Martinez and make it 6-0.

The Yankees got on the board in home portion of the fifth, as Overbay followed a double from Eduardo Nunez with a deep fly ball into the right field seats, but the deficit widened again the following inning.

Joba Chamberlain took over for Claiborne with one away in the sixth, inheriting runners on first and second. Hunter cleared the bags on the third pitch of the at-bat, hitting an opposite field homer to right to create a 9-2 spread in favor of Detroit.

Overbay had an RBI single in the ninth to account for the final margin.

Game Notes

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was given the day off. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Friday ... Sanchez evened his lifetime record to 58-58 with the victory.