Detroit, MI (My Sportsbook) - Magglio Ordonez hit a two-run homer as part of a three-run, game-changing sixth inning, and Justin Verlander was stellar on the hill to lead the Detroit Tigers past the New York Yankees, 4-2, in the opener of a three-game set from Comerica Park.

Verlander (1-2) got the win after going seven-plus innings and yielding just seven hits with a season-high nine strikeouts.

Placido Polanco stroked a pair of doubles, drove in a run and scored twice for the Tigers, who won their third straight game. Miguel Cabrera drove in the other run in the win.

CC Sabathia (1-2) pitched all eight innings and yielded four runs on six hits while fanning seven to take the loss.

"It's tough, it's baseball," said Sabathia. "But it's early, it's April and we're still trying to get our legs up under us and we gotta keep going out and playing hard. We got a good team and everyone knows that."

Robinson Cano and Ramiro Pena collected two hits each for the Yankees, who lost their season-high fourth consecutive game. Nick Swisher drove in a run and scored in defeat.

The Tigers got on the board in the first. Polanco had a one-out double and scored two batters later as Cabrera singled.

The pitchers took over from there as hits were sparse until Curtis Granderson bunted his way on with one out in the sixth. Polanco followed with an RBI double to the gap in left-center to make it a two-run game. Ordonez then cleared the bases with a two-run shot to right that bounced off the top of the wall and over to make it 4-0.

"When you face a guy like Sabathia you always want to beat him 'cause he's a great pitcher and the Yankees are a good team," said Ordonez. "Fortunately we scored runs early and won the game."

New York threatened in the eighth, as back-to-back singles from Pena and Derek Jeter chased Verlander in favor of Bobby Seay. Johnny Damon flied out to right and Mark Teixeira drove a ball deep to left, but it was caught by Ryan Raburn at the warning track for the second out. Hideki Matsui went down swinging to end the threat.

The visitors finally got on the board in the ninth off Fernando Rodney. Cano led off with a double and scored as Swisher followed with a single. Melky Cabrera kept it going with a single that put runners on the corners, but pinch-hitter Jorge Posada grounded into a double play, scoring Swisher. Pena flied out to left to end the game.

Game Notes

Detroit went 2-for-3 with RISP and left just one man on base, while New York went 1-for-9 with RISP and stranded seven baserunners...It was Ordonez' 20th home run against the Yankees...Jeter had four at-bats, giving him 8,106 for his career which moves him past Yankees legend Mickey Mantle for the most in franchise history...Cano has hit safely in his last 14 games...The Yanks didn't lose more than four in a row in 2008...Sabathia was 13-9 lifetime against the Tigers with a 4.70 ERA in 26 starts, including a 7-2 mark in 11 starts at Comerica coming in...The Tigers won four of their six meetings with the Yankees last season, but were just 1-2 at home against them.