By Fitzgerald Cecilio

Max Scherzer threw 5 2/3 solid innings and Detroit backed him up with four homers as the Tigers advanced to the World Series after sweeping the New York Yankees via an 8-1 victory in the American League Championship Series Thursday at Tigers Stadium.

Scherzer (1-0) allowed one earned run on two hits and fanned 10 batters to lead the Tigers to their 11th pennant and second World Series appearance in seven years.

The Tigers will face the winner of the National League Championship Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants. The Cardinals lead the series, 2-1.

"Unbelievable," slugger Miguel Cabrera said. "That's why we're here right now because of our starting pitching. If you have pitching, you have a good chance to win -- good defense and run support. We did it."

Cabrera hit one of four Tigers homers, two of which came against Yankees starter CC Sabathia (0-1), who lasted just 3 2/3 innings after giving up six runs on 11 hits.

"We did it," Cabrera said. " ... It's what we worked for all year to get to this point. Hopefully we get lucky and win the World Series for Detroit."

Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta staked the Tigers to a commanding 6-0 lead after hitting two-run shots in the 4th inning against Sabathia, who was far from his usual dominating self in Games 1 and 5 of the AL Division Series against the Baltimore Orioles, including a complete game that brought New York to the ALCS.

Scherzer brought a no-hit bid into the sixth but it was spoiled by a triple by Eduardo Nunez and Nick Swisher's RBI double broke up the shutout but it was all the Yankees could muster against the Tigers' outstanding pitching.

Drew Smyly, Octavio Dotel and Phil Coke then shut down the Yankees over the final 3 1/3 innings for the win.

Austin Jackson added a solo shot in the seventh against Derek Lowe and Peralta hit another one out of the park in the eighth against David Robertson help the Tigers deal the Yankees their first sweep in 36 consecutive postseason appearances.

The Yankees last tasted a sweep in 1980 against the Kansas City Royals in a best-of-five ALCS that led to the dismissal of manager Dick Howser.

"You work a long time to get to this point every year, and to have it end abruptly -- and it's going to end abruptly for all but one team -- it is really, really difficult," said manager Joe Girardi. "We didn't swing the bats. It wasn't one guy, it wasn't two guys, it was a bunch of guys. And it's hard to win when you don't score runs."

 

Max Scherzer capped a stupendous stretch for Detroit's starting rotation, and the Tigers advanced to the World Series by beating the New York Yankees 8-1 Thursday for a four-game sweep of the AL championship series

 

 

Scherzer Shines as Tigers Topple Yankees, Advance To World Series