Yankees 8, Tigers 4: Mike Pelfrey bombs in his debut for Detroit

DETROIT -- Mike Pelfrey failed to eat innings and his performance was well below average on Saturday. Buck Farmer was slightly better but not by enough, and the offense was nowhere to be found for much of the game. The Detroit Tigers eventually lost their first game of the season, dropping an 8-4 decision to the New York Yankees. They are now 3-1 on the year.

Pelfrey got torn apart in his Tigers debut. He couldn't keep the ball down in the zone and his pitch placement was erratic. The Yankees got to him right away on a solo shot by Alex Rodriguez, and the paper cuts continued until the fourth inning. A walk, back-to-back singles, sacrifice fly, single, and bases-clearing triple ended his day after 3 2/3 innings.

Manager Brad Ausmus yanked him for Farmer, who hit Brett Gardner (which in turn nailed James McCann) before firing a 91 mph fastball in for a strikeout that froze Rodriguez to end the inning. Unfortunately, things didn't improve much from there. His performance was inconsistent and he struggled to command the strike zone, as evidenced by the two-run homer given up, but he ate some innings with relative minimal damage.

Meanwhile, the offense took its first day off, unable to string a single hit or walk together until the fourth. After scoring two in the fourth, Detroit's offense went quiet again until the seventh, where they scored a run on back-to-back singles, an error, and a wild pitch. That's as close as they would come. The offense was retired without so much as a bump for the remainder of the game.

ROARS:

James McCann: Ended CC Sabathia's no-hit bid with a scorched line drive to left, plating two in the fourth inning. He also threw out Brett Gardner trying to steal second in the first inning (though he wasn't able to cut him down again in the sixth).

Jose Iglesias: Was the only Tigers player with multiple hits -- both singles. He then scored the third run on a wild pitch in the seventh.

Ian Kinsler: He only had one hit, but he also walked and plated the team's fourth run on a 4-3 groundout in the seventh.

Logan Kensing: Threw two scoreless innings, allowing just two hits.

HISSES:

Mike Pelfrey: Six runs, eight hits, three strikeouts, a home run, a sac fly, and a wild pitch in 3 2/3 innings. Only 40 strikes on 74 pitches. Enough said.

Tigers offense: Frozen. Not a peep until the fourth and the only other batter with a hit was Jose Iglesias-- with two -- until Mike Aviles' single in the seventh.

Buck Farmer: Gave up a two-run home run to Carlos Beltran in the fifth inning, which didn't help an already egregious 6-0 score. However, he did eat some innings and save the bullpen from being overworked, so there are some positives to take away from this. He ended the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings on a strikeout, and added another between for good measure. He finished with four strikeouts and four hits across 2 1/3 innings pitched.

STREAKS AND STATS:

• The game-time temperature of 31 degrees set a new all-time record for the coldest temperature in Comerica Park history. The last was 33 degrees, set on April 23, 2015 against the Yankees.
• Justin Upton's first-inning strikeout was his eighth of the season. Of his 16 plate appearances, he has just three hits, two of which were for doubles.
• Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was ejected in the top of the fifth, marking the eighth of his career as a manager. His last came on July 2, 2016.
• Jose Iglesias' two-hit game was his third multi-hit game of the season.
• Tigers catchers are 3-for-4 in throwing out baserunners for the season after James McCann got a caught stealing of Brett Gardner in the first, but failed to get him again in the sixth.

WIN PROBABILITY GRAPH:

Source: FanGraphs