Tigers lose a close one to the New York Yankees

The Detroit Tigers bullpen fails to hold another lead  as they lose a close game to the New York Yankees 4-3 in the series finale.  The Tigers who won the first two games of the 4 game series was looking to win the series by winning on the overcast Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park. 

Detroit coming into the game 1/2 game behind the Central Division leading Chicago White Sox with a 60 - 51 record.  The Yankees lead the American League Eastern Division with a 64-46 record.  Doug Fister again pitched another quality start limiting the Yankees to 2 second inning runs in 7 innings of work. 

The Tigers were led in hitting with Omar Infante with 3 hits and the hot Andy Dirks and Prince Fielder each contributing 2 hits.  The Tigers carried the 1 run lead into top of the eight inning when Tiger reliever Joaquin Benoit gave up 2 solo shot home runs to Mark Teixeira and Eric Chavez to take a 4-3 lead for the Yankees.  

Earlier in the game 3rd base umpire Tim Welke got into a heated discussion with New York manager Joe Girardi about a fair/foul call down the 3rd base line.  Girardi argued for about 3 minutes before saying the magic words to Tim Welke who promptly dumped the Yankee manager in front of 40,940 fans. 

Detroit appeared to have an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning by getting runners on 2nd and 3rd bases with nobody out.  However they failed to even get the tying run across the plate.  One could hear the calls from the fans at manager Jim Leyland on his decisions in the 9th inning.   Detroit fell to one game behind the Chicago White Sox heading into a weekend series with the Texas Rangers in Texas.   I do see the Tigers moving in the right direction in their quest to win the American League Central Division.