DETROIT – With his ace on the mound, entering the game with a 0.40 ERA through three starts, Brad Ausmus never expected to be warming up his bullpen in the very first inning Wednesday against the New York Yankees.
But that's exactly what happened to the Tigers skipper, as David Price allowed six earned runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batter in the first inning. Price used 51 pitches to get out of the inning as the Yankees batted through their entire lineup.
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When Price pitched against New York last season, the Yankees jumped on him for nine straight base hits.
Adam Warren, who took the mound with a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first, struggled to find the strike zone early. He walked three of the first four batters to load the bases with one out before allowing another walk, an infield single and a fielder's choice to make it 6-3.
Alex Avila came through with two outs, ripping an 0-2 pitch to left field for an RBI single to make it 6-4.
The 1st inning lasted 52 minutes and included 10 runs, seven hits and six walks. Price and Warren combined to throw 87 pitches.
New York continued its assault on Price with two outs in the 2nd, scoring two more runs on back-to-back RBI triples from Carlos Beltran and Chase Headley.
Warren was able to settle down after a wild 1st inning, retiring the Tigers 1-2-3 in the 2nd.
Price struggled again to start the 3rd and got pulled after a one-out single from Alex Rodriguez. Price finished with 2.1 innings pitched and allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits.
The single was A-Rod's first hit of the series after starting 0-9.
Angel Nesbitt came in and stranded two runners to get out of the 3rd, but the Tigers offense couldn't cut into the Yankees' lead.
Detroit's defense took a dive in the 4th, as a potential double play ball turned into an error when Jose Iglesias dropped the throw from Miguel Cabrera at second base. Two batters later, a Didi Gregorius double to right field stretched the New York lead to 10-4.
Warren cruised through the Tigers' order in the middle innings, lasting into the 6th and finishing with four earned runs on five hits and four walks in 5.2 innings.
Al Alburquerque got beat up for a second straight night, allowing a three-run home run to Mark Teixeira in the 7th.
That shot wrapped up the scoring for the night, as the Tigers fell 13-4.
The loss ends a streak of four straight series wins to start the season for Detroit. Anibal Sanchez will take the mound Thursday to try to salvage a split in the finale against New York's Masahiro Tanaka.