Old man Goldy and the Martian lift Yanks to win over Detroit

DETROIT, MI - JUNE 24: Jasson Dominguez #24 (R) of the New York Yankees celebrates his two-run home run that drove in Ben Rice #22 in the sixth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on June 24, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Facing off against Tarik Skubal, the Yankees were going to need a strong start to best the reigning two-time AL Cy Young winner. They got just that, and though Skubal managed to look a lot more like his old self and shut down the lineup for long stretches, the offense made their moments count and cashed in most of the hits they got for runs.

Paul Goldschmidt set the tone immediately, working a 3-0 count before finding a fastball up and in the zone that he could crush, 372 feet later, it landed in left field for a 1-0 Yankees lead. Skubal rebounded quickly though, retiring the next three Yankees in just seven pitches, and outside of a seven-pitch battle with Jazz Chisholm Jr. the second inning gave him little trouble as well.

View Link

In the bottom of the second, the Tigers’ bats responded against Ryan Weathers. Riley Greene led off with a fly out, but Spencer Torkelson crushed a middle-middle fastball for a double out to left, and Hao-Yu Lee worked a four-pitch walk to put runners on with one out. Weathers managed to strike Ben Malgeri out to get an out away from escaping without any damage, but Zach McKinstry jumped on a 2-1 sinker that caught too much of the plate for a line drive single back up the middle that tied the game at one. Weathers evaded further problems by striking out Jake Rogers, his third of the night already, but the offense would have to pick him back up.

Luckily, Goldschmidt was up to the task.

View Link

Goldschmidt’s second blast of the game was still just the second hit the Yankees had, and spoiler alert: they wouldn’t get another one for a while. Still, the Bombers were making Skubal pay on the few mistake pitches he made, making a night where he otherwise looked like the dominant ace he has been not feel too frustrating.

The Tigers weren’t out of this one yet, and they got some help to tie the game back up in the fourth inning. Torkelson led off with a walk, and Lee worked a 3-0 count before getting a fastball near the middle of the plate to drive. Jasson Domínguez couldn’t field the ball cleanly, allowing Torkelson to advance to third on the single, and Malgeri lifted a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to cash in the runner and knot us up at two.

Weathers buckled down, getting the next two outs to close the inning without incident, and he worked around a leadoff double in the fifth to turn in a relatively strong outing for the second consecutive turn through the order. Weathers lasted six innings, allowing the two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with six punchouts. After a shaky streak of starts saw his ERA jump north of four during this month, Weathers has calmed things down and managed to secure his first start without a home run allowed since May 24th against Tampa Bay. And thanks to his offense finding one more spark on a night that they otherwise struggled, he walked away with the win.

After Goldschmidt’s second homer in the third, the entire lineup turned over without a batter getting on board. With two outs in the sixth, Ben Rice jumped on a first-pitch changeup to slap a single out to right breaking up Skubal’s rhythm and forcing him into the stretch for the first time all game. Perhaps that made the difference as Domínguez stepped up to the plate and fought through a nine-pitch at-bat where Skubal just couldn’t put him away despite jumping ahead 0-2, eventually leaving the third and final mistake pitch of his night: a changeup right over the heart of the plate. Domínguez pounced on it, and drove it out to left.

View Link

Now in the driver’s seat, the Yankee bullpen was tasked with holding the lead and they were very successful. Camilo Doval entered for the seventh and walked Rogers to lead off, but then got two straight pop-ups before handing the ball over to Fernando Cruz who struck out all four batters he faced. David Bednar got the ninth inning as usual, and got to two outs before he allowed a single to Kevin McGonigle that brought the tying run to the plate. Thankfully, Dillon Dingler jumped at the first pitch and lofted a fly ball right into Domínguez’s glove for the final out.

The Yankees secured themselves a series win after looking rather lackluster to start off, and now they’ll take that momentum into Boston for a four-game set with their archrivals. Cam Schlittler will open that series off and face off with Connelly Early, first pitch set for 7:10 p.m. EST.

Box Score.