Yankees’ Joe Girardi turns tables on media in lineup Q&A

Brad Ausmus liked the fight he saw from the Detroit Tigers Thursday night.

Pineda has surrendered six runs or more in six of his 10 starts, and Detroit has averaged 6.1 runs and hit.315 with 17 home runs during a 7-2 stretch at Comerica. He ended up being charged with four runs after Jacoby Ellsbury tripled off Kyle Ryan to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead.

Alex Rodriguez and Chase Headley doubled, and after Austin Romine botched a sacrifice bunt – he got it down, but the Tigers had plenty of time to get A-Rod out at third – it was Refsnyder who came through with a clean RBI single to left field. But a major threat was defused by a sensational double play started by shortstop Didi Gregorius – a late-game defensive sub – and turned by Starlin Castro.

“We knew it was a reach, but we had nothing to lose”, he said. “[Getting] the win is the only thing that should matter”.

Before the game, an agitated Girardi refuted any suggestion that his club failed to realize the gravity of being in fourth place through almost one-third of the season.

“So, now what? I’m listening”, Girardi said. “There’s urgency in that clubhouse every day, and if there isn’t they should go home”. He gave up one run on seven hits in 5 2-3 innings, striking out eight and walking none. “I still had my confidence, but it has been hard to not help the team win. [It was disappointing] that I wasn’t helping the team”.

“We still believe in Michael”, Girardi told the league’s official website.

The Yankees entered Thursday having scored five runs in four games, including Wednesday night’s 7-0 loss to the Blue Jays.

Trailing 1-0, a spark was ignited by Refsnyder.

“Who do you want me to lead off?”

“I mean, [Jacoby] Ellsbury‘s done a pretty good job, hasn’t he?”

Dellin Betances got the win for the Yankees and improved to 2-2, Boyd dropped to 0-1, Chapman got his eighth save of the season. In the seventh, the Yankees added four more runs, capped off by a two-run triple from Ellsbury.

Despite the Yanks’ lockdown relief trio, it was a nerve-wracking ending.

One run scored against Miller on Ian Kinsler’s double in the eighth, but Gregorius collected Brett Gardner’s throw from the wall and cut down Justin Upton at the plate for the third out of the inning. Miguel Cabrera grounded out to end the game and the Yankees snapped their three-game losing streak by defeating the Tigers 5-4 in a game they were making up from a rain out back on April 10.