CC Sabathia kept up his recent resurgence with seven sharp innings, Brett Gardner sparked another scoring burst and the Yankees beat the Tigers 4-0 on Friday night for their fifth straight win.
Carlos Beltran and Didi Gregorius each added two hits as the Yankees (31-30) moved over .500 for the first time since they were 4-3.
The Tigers began a 10-game trip by losing for the second straight time following a five-game winning streak.
Sabathia (4-4) gave up five singles, walked two and struck out four. He hasn't allowed more than two runs in his last six starts and left with a 2.28 ERA — the lowest he's ever had after 10 starts or more in any season.
Coming back from a year plagued by problems on and off the field, Sabathia beat Detroit for the second time this season. The 35-year-old lefty improved to 21-13 against the Tigers — among active pitchers, only Seattle ace Felix Hernandez, who is 22-8 vs. Oakland, has beaten an opponent more often.
Sabathia got a workout at the start, with leadoff man Ian Kinsler fouling off six straight full-count pitches before taking a called third strike after tossing aside his bat for what he thought was ball four.
Sabathia escaped his biggest jam by getting Miguel Cabrera to ground into an inning-ending double with two runners on in the fifth.
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Relievers Dellin Betances and Anthony Swarzak each threw an inning to complete the combined shutout.
Mike Pelfrey (1-6) quickly ran into trouble in his first outing since stopping an 18-start winless streak.
Gardner singled with one out to key a three-run first. Since emerging from an 0-for-24 skid, he's 16 for 30.
Beltran singled, Alex Rodriguez walked to load the bases, Brian McCann walked on four pitches to force home a run and Gregorius sliced a two-run double over left fielder Justin Upton. McCann was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the play.
Gardner walked, took two bases on catcher James McCann's errant pickoff throw and scored on Beltran's single in the third. Beltran drove in 10 runs during a four-game sweep of the Angels before this series.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers: CF Cameron Maybin returned to the lineup after missing two starts with a sore left wrist. He broke the wrist in spring training, and got a cortisone shot this week.
Yankees: 1B Chris Parmelee is expected to miss at least a month after straining his right hamstring stretching for a throw Thursday night. He joined Mark Teixeira, Greg Bird and Dustin Ackley as Yankees first basemen on the DL.
UP NEXT
Tigers: RHP Justin Verlander (5-5, 3.97) is 0-4 with a 4.84 ERA in seven starts at the new Yankee Stadium. Rodriguez has five home runs in 38 career at-bats vs. Verlander.
Yankees: RHP Masahiro Tanaka (3-1, 2.76) has given up two or fewer earned runs in 10 of his 12 starts this season. J.D. Martinez has two homers and two doubles in six at-bats against Tanaka.
