Many questioned Jim Leyland's decision to put Don Kelly second in the batting order, but it's looking like a pretty good move right about now. Kelly hit a home run to right field in his first at-bat to put the Tigers up 1-0, and Delmon Young came up next and hit a home run to left field on the first pitch he saw. It was the first time the Tigers have hit back-to-back home runs in a playoff game, and the two jacks put them on top by a score of 2-0.
After Doug Fister cruised through the bottom of the first inning, Magglio Ordonez led off the second inning with a double. The Tigers stranded him on third, but it turns out they did enough to run Ivan Nova. Joe Girardi must not have liked what he saw in the first two innings, because he replaced Nova with Phil Hughes in the third inning. Hughes did give up a single off the right field wall to Young, but he didn't give up any runs.
In the bottom of the second, the Yankees got their first base runner when Mark Teixeira hit a ground rule double. He was stranded on second with Fister getting Nick Swisher to ground out and Jorge Posada to strike out looking. The Yankees stranded Brett Gardner, who singled to center, and Curtis Granderson, who was walked, in the third inning.
The Tigers have a 2-0 lead going into the fourth inning of the decisive Game 5.