It was not supposed to be that way -- two rookies teaming up to deliver a close win for a much storied baseball franchise like the New York Yankees (41-39), the same Yankees that had acquired the services of several former league MVP's and Cy Young winners.
But rookie infielder Robinson Cano and Taiwan's own Wang Chien-ming (王建民) outshined their multi-millionaire teammates in a 1-0 shutout win over the Detroit Tigers on the road to keep the Yankees above the .500 mark on Sunday.
Wang (5-3), who left the game with a 1-0 lead after allowing five hits over seven shutout innings, was relieved by set-up man Tom Gordon in a perfect eighth, before ace closer Mariano Rivera preserved the low-scoring victory for the Bronx Bombers by retiring the final three Tigers batters in the ninth inning.
It was not his best pitching performance by any means as far as his ability to keep the number of base runners to a minimum, but Wang managed to get out of several serious jams by holding Detroit to 0-for-7 hitting with runners in scoring position, while also getting some timely help from his defense, which turned two double plays for his fifth win of the season.
He also beaned three Tigers batters while issuing one walk on a day where the ball seemed to have a mind of its own.
The Taiwanese wonder, nevertheless, still won the praise of the Yankees' skipper.
"I can't think of any other pitcher with that kind of poise with that little experience," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "He [Wang] doesn't surprise me anymore. When we write his name down [on the pitching roster], we know we don't have to worry about him."
The 1-0 win marked the first time in 28 chances where the Yankees had scored three runs or fewer and still came out ahead.
The last time that these Yankees were able to pull off a regular-season win when scoring three runs or fewer was in a 3-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the final game of last season.
Cano backed up his rookie buddy on the mound with a leadoff double in the fourth, and reached home on the ensuing play when Gary Sheffield slapped a single up the middle off Tigers starter Nate Robertson for the lone run of the contest.
It was a nice piece of hitting by the left-handed Yankees rookie, who hacked away at a high pitch from Robertson (also left-handed) to the opposite field for a rare double by a left-hander against Robertson.
The Tigers had their chances against Wang and the two other New York pitchers, but failed to come up with the clutch hits, stranding 10 runners with seven of them in scoring position, wasting another quality start by Robertson in a complete-game effort, as he dropped to 0-4 at home this season despite a 2.56 ERA.
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