Giancarlo Stanton hits ball into orbit, but Yankees lose to the Tigers 6-5

In what has become a Friday night tradition, the Yankees mounted a ninth inning comeback attempt. Unfortunately this week’s rally fell just short, as the Bombers dropped the game to the Tigers by a score of 6-5.

For a full breakdown of tonight’s game, you can find the box score here. In the meantime, let’s run through three quick points:

1. Giancarlo Stanton did a bad, bad thing to a baseball in the first inning. The 29-year-old clobbered a changeup Matt Boyd left in the middle of the plate. A no-doubt shot off the bat, Stanton’s blast cleared the stands and went straight for the parking lot. I’m working my sources at NORAD to get a read on the ball’s flight pattern. Expect it to land sometime in the early morning hours, if we’re lucky.

2. Masahiro Tanaka pitched better than his line suggests. He had strikeout stuff working for him, even if he surrendered a pair of runs. One of those came off the bat of Daz Cameron, who took the right-hander deep in the third inning. Tanaka worked with a heavy mix of sliders and splitters, and they had a lot of movement to them. Two runs in 3.1 innings is definitely solid work, but the stuff makes it even more encouraging. Kudos to him on showing off a great pickoff move too.

3. Kyle Holder had a nifty little game. He hit a moonshot home run to right field, bringing the Yankees within a run of the lead. Holder also bailed DJ LeMahieu out in the sixth inning. LeMahieu dropped a routine popup off the bat of Jeimer Candelario, but Holder recovered it and flipped to second base for the fielder’s choice. Not a bad night’s work for the shortstop prospect.

Highlight of the Game

What? Were you expecting another highlight? It just had to be Stanton.

Tomorrow the Yankees take on the Orioles at 6:05 PM. While the game won’t be televised, you can listen along on WFAN or stream via MLB.tv.