Maroth One-Hits Yankees As Tigers Win 8-0

DETROIT – Mike Maroth pitched a one-hitter, Ivan Rodriguez had a two-run double in a five-run fifth and the Detroit Tigers matched their win total from last season with an 8-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night.

Gary Sheffield’s double in the fourth was the lone hit against Maroth, and Sheffield was the only Yankees baserunner to reach second.

Sparked by Rodriguez’s arrival and other successful acquisitions, the Tigers (43-46) already have as many wins as they did last season when they lost an AL-record 119 games, one short of the post-1900 futility mark.

Perhaps it was fitting that Maroth (6-7) picked up the win – with his first major league shutout – after becoming the face of Detroit’s miserable season with 21 losses last year, baseball’s first 20-game loser since 1980.

On Friday he was overpowering, and the sellout crowd of 40,918 stayed until the final out despite a steady rain in the ninth. After Sheffield struck out to end it, Maroth received a rousing ovation.

Maroth threw 127 pitches and tied a career high with seven strikeouts and walked two.

The Tigers have won six of eight, and Yankees lost for the first time in six games.

All-Star Javier Vazquez (10-6) gave up eight runs – seven earned – on eight hits over 4 1-3 innings, in his worst outing since giving up seven runs on May 6 at Oakland. It was just his second loss since May 12, a span of 12 starts.

Unlike last season, Maroth got plenty of run support.

Carlos Guillen’s RBI triple – his eighth – and Eric Munson’s two-run homer put Detroit ahead 3-0 in the second.

Rodriguez’s two-run double in the fifth followed Bobby Higginson’s RBI single. Dmitri Young brought home another run with a triple – his second in two games – and Guillen ended the big inning with a single.

Juan Padilla faced Guillen in the fifth in his major league debut. The 25-year-old right-hander was recalled from Triple A-Columbus on Thursday to take Sam Marsonek’s roster spot.

Notes:@ In the only other complete game of his career, Maroth gave up four hits in a 4-3 loss to Kansas City on April 20, 2003. … New York RHP Mike Mussina went on the DL with a sore right elbow Friday, two days before he was scheduled to return to the rotation. Mussina will be eligible to come off the DL on July 22. … Detroit RHP Nate Cornejo, out since May 3 with shoulder inflammation, expects to have season-ending surgery soon. … Alex Sanchez, in Miami with his expectant wife and rehabbing a hamstring injury, is expected to come off the DL on Thursday, the first day of Detroit’s road trip. … Detroit’s Rondell White (sore foot) was scratched from the lineup and replaced by Marcus Thames. … Detroit’s Craig Monroe (hamstring) pinch-hit in the eighth, his first game since July 8.