DETROIT — If Anibal Sanchez hadn’t lost contact with the pitching rubber and been called for a balk in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 2-1 win over the Tigers on Thursday, Jacoby Ellsbury would have been attempting a steal of home.
“I didn’t know I wanted to go until I went,’’ said Ellsbury, who made a move toward home, but stopped when Sanchez delivered a pitch without a foot on the rubber. “He saw me and he stopped.’’
With the Tigers shifting on Brian McCann, Ellsbury could wander off third more than normal.
“I always try to make something happen,’’ said Ellsbury, who, with a lot of other Yankees, screamed for the balk that eventually was called by third base umpire Gerry Davis.
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus argued long enough to get tossed by Davis.
“[Sanchez] started his delivery and then stepped off the rubber to throw home,’’ Davis said. “I took a couple seconds to process what I saw. I wanted to be sure he had started his delivery before I made the call. [Ausmus] told me it was my run, so I threw him out.”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi deleted the top two RBI guys from Thursday’s game.
So, Carlos Beltran was the designated hitter for Alex Rodriguez and Garrett Jones started at first base for the initial time as a Yankee for Mark Teixeira, who leads the Yankees in homers (five) and RBIs (13). Rodriguez has four homers and 11 RBIs.
“He has played every day on this road trip,’’ Girardi said of Rodriguez, who has two hits in his last 17 at-bats and hasn’t homered since he crushed two last Friday in St. Petersburg Fla. “He hasn’t had many days off this year. I will give him [off] today and probably run him out there the next six days. We talked about it a little bit, but I took it upon myself, with the quick turnaround and the long game [Wednesday night], I know he is just DHing but he is still 39 ½.’’
As for Teixeira, he started 13 of the first 14 games and the last 10.
“I wasn’t going to run him out there 13 days in a row,’’ Girardi said.
Teixeira hit for Didi Gregorius in the seventh inning and remained in the game at first base.
On the other hand Girardi started catcher Brian McCann in a day game after a night game.
“[McCann] has played extremely well,” Girardi said. “We talked about how we are going to do this week and he feels good, so I am going to run him back out there.”
McCann drove in the winning run with a grounder to the right side in the eighth.
The news that Tigers reliever Joe Nathan is headed for possible career-ending Tommy John surgery saddened Girardi.
“He has been really good on really good teams,’’ Girardi said of the 40-year-old product of Stony Brook University, who has 377 saves, making him seventh all-time and the active leader. “He was really tested because he was on a ton of playoff teams. It’s unfortunate what he is going through.I don’t think any player wants to go out that way. I am not sure what he will do but being 40 years old I am sure there is a lot of thought maybe it’s his last pitch.’’
Bench coach Rob Thomson , coached third base for the second straight game because Joe Espada was home in Florida for the birth of his daughter.