His run support came in the fifth inning, on a line drive just inside the left-field foul pole, pulled by Ian Kinsler to propel the Detroit Tigers to victory.
And by that time, Justin Verlander was in cruise control once again.
The Tigers’ ace right-hander continued to cruise through the early summer months with another stellar outing, backed by another Kinsler home run, as the Tigers snapped the Yankees’ five-game winning streak in a 6-1 win Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
Verlander pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run on five hits, and Kinsler backed him in a big way, driving in a career-high five runs in the win.
The big blow came in the fifth, when he hit his 12th home run of the season - this one against Masahiro Tanaka - to give Verlander more than enough support for the win.
It was a three-run shot, set up by a pair of singles from Justin Upton and Jose Iglesias.
Kinsler then put the game on ice with a two-run double to left-centerfield in the seventh inning to close the book on Tanaka’s night.
He is hitting.318 this season with a team-high Verlander threw 62/3 innings.
He struck out five and walked one.
After Didi Gregorious doubled with two outs in the seventh inning, Shane Greene returned to the mound in the Bronx in relief of Verlander and made quick work of Chase Headley for a three-pitch strikeout, then struck out Rob Refsnyder swinging to open the eighth inning on four pitches for good measure.
Justin Wilson continued the former Yankees comeback train by retiring the final two batters of the eighth and after Alex Wilson loaded the bases in the ninth inning with two outs, Francisco Rodriguez was summoned to close the game.
Wilson walked two and allowed a single.
Rodriguez retired Headley for the win, and his 18th save of the season. Verlander’s last seven starts, since getting knocked around by the Indians and subsequently vowing on social media to dominate again soon, look like this: 1.93 ERA with 11 walks and 57 strikeouts.
He is 6-5 with a 3.77 ERA this season.
Kinsler upped his average to.318 in the win, with a team-high 40 RBIs and is certainly on the inside track to earning his fourth American League All-Star Game appearance.
The Tigers have the chance to take the series on Sunday as Michael Fulmer squares off against Michael Pineda.
They are 31-30.
Martinez pitches Cardinals past Pirates 5-1 It took the Cardinals just more than a week into the season to reel off their first winning streak of four games.
It took them more than two months longer to achieve their second one.
But here they are now at 34-28 with 100 games left, having won their fourth straight overall and second in two nights against the Pittsburgh Pirates, requiring neither extra innings nor four hours, as seems per usual here, to complete the task.
Throwing sinkers as high as 96 mph and four-seamers even harder, Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez nearly pitched his first stateside complete game in 179 appearances as he throttled the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-1.
Martinez, who did have a complete game in the Dominican Summer League in 2010, got double plays when he needed them, inducing three in the first six innings. Then he ramped it up late, striking out three batters in the eighth and ninth but, after allowing his sixth hit, a smash through the middle as Martinez failed on a behind-the-back attempt, he was lifted after a career-high 122 pitches and a career-best 81/3 innings with two runners on base.
Trevor Rosenthal one-hopped a throw to second on what should have been a game-ending double play although the Cardinals got a forceout. He then wrapped up his 12th save by striking out Josh Harrison. Martinez fanned five but he recorded 14 outs via the ground ball.
RESULTS
Washington 8 Philadelphia 0
Toronto 11 Baltimore 6
Boston 15 Minnesota 4
Kansas City 4 Chicago White Sox 1
Chicago Cubs 8 Atlanta 2
Houston 4 Tampa Bay 3
Milwaukee 7 NY Mets 4
Cincinnati 2 Oakland 1
COLORADO 5 San Diego 3
Detroit 6 NY Yankees 1
San Francisco 5 LA Dodgers 4 (10 innings)
St. Louis 5 Pittsburgh 1
LA Angels 4 Cleveland 3
Arizona 5 Miami 3
Texas 2 Seattle 1 (11 innings)