Tough loss for Verlander

NEW YORK - Justin Verlander followed the trajectory of the ball and watched helplessly as Alex Rodriguez's opposite-field fly settled softly into the second row of right-field seats.

All of a sudden, after six dominant innings, Verlander was losing.

Welcome to the new Yankee Stadium.

CC Sabathia beat Verlander in a prime pitching matchup, and Rodriguez's pop-fly homer sent the New York Yankees to a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers yesterday.

"It's very frustrating," said Verlander, a former standout at Goochland High School. "It's very disappointing to throw the ball as well as I did and come away with a loss."

Sabathia (9-6) tossed seven shutout innings, working out of trouble all afternoon for his eighth victory in 11 decisions. Mariano Rivera got three quick outs for a save and Derek Jeter made an outstanding defensive play in the ninth.

"The game had a feeling that one mistake, one pitch, one swing was going to be the difference," Rodriguez said.

Melky Cabrera legged out an infield single to drive in the second run against Verlander (10-5), who took a three-hit shutout into the seventh before running into some tough luck.

Rodriguez led off with a high fly toward Yankee Stadium's short right-field porch. Verlander watched it the whole way, then smiled in disbelief after the ball carried over the fence.

"If it went out by 10 rows, all right. But just scraping the back of the wall is frustrating. I'd rather a guy hit it 10 miles," Verlander said. "I didn't think he hit it very well, but it had the right trajectory and he hit it to the right part of the field."

"He's throwing 98 [mph]," Rodriguez said about Verlander, who struck out six to increase his AL-leading total to 155. "I think he supplied a lot of the power."

Marcus Thames homered in the eighth off Alfredo Aceves, who struck out two to set up Rivera for his 507th career save and 25th in 26 chances this season.

Jeter made a signature jump throw from deep in the shortstop hole to get Brandon Inge (VCU) for the second out of the ninth.

"That was an incredible play," Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "He made such a strong throw. It was perfect."

Box score, Page C6