The Detroit Tigers came back from two runs down to beat the New York Yankees 4-3 and even their playoff series at one game apiece in Major League Baseball on Thursday.
Curtis Granderson hit a go-ahead RBI triple off Mike Mussina in the seventh inning to the cap the rally, and send the Tigers home with a split in their American League division series.
In National League playoffs, the Cardinals defeated the San Diego Padres 2-0 and the Mets downed the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 as St. Louis and New York each took 2-0 series leads.
In a game postponed by the threat of rain the night before, a somewhat stunned Yankee Stadium crowd of 56,252 watched the wild-card Tigers end a six-game losing streak since the final week of the regular season.
Justin Verlander, his pitches reaching 161 kph, allowed his only runs on Johnny Damon's fourth-inning homer, which put New York ahead 3-1. Detroit's bullpen held down the Yankees' mighty offense: Joel Zumaya topped out at 164 kph, Jamie Walker got the win, and Todd Jones pitched the ninth for the save.
The Tigers tied it at 3 on Granderson's fifth-inning sacrifice fly and Carlos Guillen's sixth-inning homer.
Cardinals 2, Padres 0
At San Diego, even local star David Wells couldn't save the Padres, who appear to be headed for their same old playoffs fate against St. Louis.
Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds hit RBI singles off Wells in the fourth inning and Jeff Weaver held the light-hitting Padres in check in five scoreless innings.
The two-time NL West champion Padres have now lost nine straight playoff games dating to its World Series sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees in 1998.
Pujols got three more hits after homering in the 5-1 victory in Game 1.
Weaver, dumped by the Los Angeles Angels with a 3-10 record, and four relievers combined on a four-hitter. The Padres have only 10 hits in the first two games and are 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Mets 4, Dodgers 1
At New York, Tom Glavine, making his 33rd postseason start -- but first since joining the Mets in 2003, tossed six shutout innings and New York scratched out enough runs to beat Los Angeles for a 2-0 lead in their NL playoff series.
Jose Reyes drove in two runs from the leadoff spot, 48-year-old pinch-hitter Julio Franco hustled to beat out a double-play ball for an RBI, and Billy Wagner earned his second consecutive save.
Two days earlier, the NL East champions lost Orlando Hernandez to a calf injury -- leaving him on the sidelines with ace Pedro Martinez all postseason.
But now, they're one win from the NL championship series.
Los Angeles left-hander Kuo Hong-chih (
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