New York • Anibal Sanchez and the Detroit Tigers made the plays, benefited from an admitted missed call by an umpire and delivered during their few good opportunities at the plate.

The reward: a commanding two-game lead in the AL championship series and a trip home with their ace ready to start.

Sanchez shut down a Yankees lineup minus injured Derek Jeter, and Detroit won without any drama this time, beating New York 3-0 Sunday.

Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda pitched perfect ball into the sixth inning. But the slumping New York hitters looked lost a day after their captain broke his ankle in the 12th inning of a 6-4 loss.

Making his second postseason start, Sanchez threw three-hit ball deep into the game to make Tigers manager Jim Leyland's job much easier. A day after closer Jose Valverde gave up four runs in the ninth, Leyland said the righty wouldn't close Game 2.

"I thought we hung in there and took advantage of a couple of things," Leyland said. "And those are some of the things you need in postseason play. You never know how it's going to play out."

The Tigers scored twice in the eighth after second base umpire Jeff Nelson missed a call on a two-out tag at second base. Yankees manager Joe Girardi argued, and was ejected on his 48th birthday.

"The hand did not get in before the tag," Nelson said after seeing a replay. "The call was incorrect."

The Tigers led 1-0 in the eighth and had Omar Infante on first with two outs. Austin Jackson singled, and when Infante took a wide turn at second, right fielder Nick Swisher threw behind him.

Robinson Cano made a swipe tag as Infante made a head-first dive back to second. Cano missed Infante's arm but brushed his body, replays clearly showed. But Nelson called Infante safe.

Cano and Girardi pleaded the call to no avail. Boone Logan replaced Kuroda and gave up an RBI single to pinch hitter Avisail Garcia to make it 2-0. —

Tigers 2, Yankees 0

Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

A.Jackson cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .300

Berry lf 3 1 1 0 0 0 .200

a-Garcia ph-rf 1 0 1 1 0 0 .400

Mi.Cabrera 3b 4 0 2 1 0 1 .375

Fielder 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 .222

D.Young dh 4 0 0 1 0 3 .300

Dirks rf-lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .100

Jh.Peralta ss 4 0 2 0 0 1 .556

Avila c 4 0 0 0 0 2 .167

Infante 2b 4 1 1 0 0 2 .111

Totals 35 3 8 3 1 13

New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

I.Suzuki lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .400

Cano 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Teixeira 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250

Ibanez dh 2 0 1 0 2 1 .429

R.Martin c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .222

Rodriguez 3b 4 0 1 0 0 2 .143

Granderson cf 3 0 0 0 1 3 .000

Swisher rf 3 0 1 0 0 2 .250

J.Nix ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Totals 31 0 4 0 3 10

Detroit 000 000 120 — 3 8 1

New York 000 000 000 — 0 4 0

a-singled for Berry in the 8th.

E—A.Sanchez (1).

LOB—Detroit 6, New York 7. 2B—Berry (1), Teixeira (1). RBIs—A.Garcia (2), Mi.Cabrera (1), D.Young (4). SB—Granderson (1). CS—Ibanez (1).

Runners left in scoring position—Detroit 4 (A.Jackson, D.Young 2, Infante) New York 4 (R.Martin 2, J.Nix, Granderson). RISP—Detroit 3 for 9 New York 0 for 5.

Runners moved up—Avila 2, Cano, Teixeira.

Detroit IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Sanchz W, 1-0 7 3 0 0 3 7 0.00

Coke S, 1-1 2 1 0 0 0 3 0.00

New York IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Kuroda L, 0-1 72⁄3 5 3 3 0 11 3.52

Logan 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00

Chamberlain 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00

Rapada 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00

Eppley 11⁄3 1 0 0 0 2 0.00

Logan pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

Chamberlain pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

Rapada pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

Inherited runners-scored—Logan 2-1, Chamberlain 2-1, Rapada 2-0, Eppley 3-0. IBB—off A.Sanchez (Ibanez).

Umpires—Home, Rob Drake First, Sam Holbrook Second, Jeff Nelson Third, Gary Cederstrom Right, Jeff Kellogg Left, Mike Winters.

T—3:18. A—47,082 (50,291).