GAME THREAD: AL: DETROIT (67-54) at NY YANKEES (67-54)

Pettitte, Giambi help Yankees roll past Tigers

<h3>NY YANKEES 6, DETROIT 1</h3>BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Heavy rains made for a long nightat Yankee Stadium, but Andy Pettitte made the delay worthwhilefor the New York Yankees, giving them exactly what they needed.

Pettitte tied a season high with eight solid innings, BobbyAbreu had three hits and Jason Giambi homered twice as theYankees snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-1 victoryover the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.


After opening the four-game series with an 8-5 loss on Thursday,the Yankees were hoping to get a better peformance on the moundin this one, and they received just that. They just had towait a little longer than usual, however, as a heavy downpourcaused the start of the game to be delayed for 1 hour, 14minutes.


Once the contest got underway, the showers stayed away and fanswere able to enjoy a solid performance by Pettitte (10-7), whowon his fourth straight start. On a 69-degree night, he allowedBrandon Inge's one-out RBI double in the third among five hits.

"I'm just trying to give us a good start," Pettitte said. "I'mglad I was able to. It was a good game for us."


The veteran lefthander struck out five, walked one and threw71-of-104 pitches for strikes as the Yankees won for the 10thtime in 14 games.


"Andy is the go-to guy to stop the bleeding," New York managerJoe Torre said. "He's so solid. I watched this in 1996. Theonly thing I see different now since he's been back is that hedoesn't mind being the guy out there."


Two of Pettitte's strikeouts came against prized prospectCameron Maybin, who started in left field for the Tigers afterbeing brought up from Class AA Erie earlier in the day. Afterstriking out in the first inning, Maybin was fanned again in thethird with two runners aboard after being ahead in the count3-1.


"I was a little anxious," Maybin admitted. "I tried to makethings happen. I was just rushing everything, trying to makesomething happen so bad."


Pettitte pitched into the eighth for the sixth time this season,and it helped the Yankees rest their bullpen, using only rookieJoba Chamberlain for a scoreless ninth.


"I felt good," Pettitte said. "I've been throwing my two-seamera little bit better, and that helped me. That helped me anawful lot."


After Inge's hit, Pettitte retired 17 of the final 20 hitters hefaced, and his teammates gradually got to Detroit starter NateRobertson (7-10). He also improved to 43-16 lifetime in Augustand did not allow a home run for a fifth straight start.

"He was good," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "We didn't domuch with him. He just mixes speeds. He cuts the ball andchanges it up on us. He knows how to pitch. He's been doing ita long time."


Abreu, who entered with six hits in his previous 23 at-bats, gotthings started in the third with a well-placed single overshortstop Carlos Guillen's head that allowed Robinson Cano toscore, tying the game at 1-1.


Alex Rodriguez followed with an RBI ground-rule double to leftfield and Giambi led off the fourth with his 10th home run ofthe season and third since returning from the disabled list.

The Yankees maintained their two-run lead until the sixth, whenthey added a pair on Phillips' two-run double to deepleft-center field.


Phillips' hit came moments after the scoreboard showed that theBoston Red Sox blew a one-run lead to the Los Angeles Angels ofAnaheim.


The Yankees added another insurance run in eighth, when Giambilaunched a shot into the upper deck in right field. It was his35th career multi-homer game and first since August 20 atBoston.


"I'm swinging the bat good," Giambi said. "My foot feels great.This is a fresh part of the year for me."


The contributions from Pettitte, Abreu and Giambi enabled theYankees (68-54) to climb within five games of the Red Sox(73-49), who won the opener of their day-night doubleheader.New York remained one-half game behind Seattle (67-52) in the ALwild card race.


Robertson fell to 1-5 lifetime against the Yankees as he allowedfive runs and 10 hits in six innings.


"They didn't have many deep counts on me tonight," Robertsonsaid. "They battled and made it tough on me. I feel good aboutthe way I threw the baseball. Unfortunately, it didn't turnout the way we wanted."


With the loss, Detroit (67-55) fell one-half game behindCleveland (67-54) in the AL Central. The Indians posted a 2-1victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Friday.