Tiger’s reliever Joaquin Benoit served up back-to-back homers to the Yankees in the eighth inning and New York held on to beat Detroit 4-to-3 yesterday afternoon to earn a split of the four game series at Comerica Park. The solo shots by Mark Teixeira (tuh-SHARE-uh) and Eric Chavez erased the Tiger’s 3-to-2 lead. And then Detroit wasted a golden opportunity to at least tie or maybe win the game as they put runners on first and third with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth and failed to cash in when the next three batters were retired by Yankee closer Rafael Soriano. The Tigers scored on a two-run homer by Alex Avila and an RBI double by Andy Dirks.

The defeat leaves Detroit one full game behind the Central Division leading White Sox who were idle on Thursday. The Tigers tonight open a three game series at Texas while the White Sox host the Oakland A’s this weekend. And the Cubs snapped their eight game losing streak with a 5-to-3 win over the Reds last night at Wrigley Field.