Detroit @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 19, 2015 ) Detroit 2, NY Yankees 7

Among the many knocks on Alex Rodriguez was his failure to match Derek Jeter when the lights shine brightest, but he reached a major milestone and joined the former New York Yankees captain in the record books Friday. Rodriguez homered for his 3,000th career hit in a 7-2 series-opening victory over the visiting Detroit Tigers, who will attempt to even the three-game set on Saturday.

Rodriguez, only the third player in history (Jeter, Wade Boggs) to record his 3,000th hit on a home run, moved into a tie with Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente for 28th place on the all-time hits list. Brett Gardner also went deep and drove in three runs in the series opener to improve to 6-for-10 with two homers, five RBIs and four runs scored over the last two games for New York, which has won three straight overall and 10 of 11 at home. The Tigers have dropped three in a row overall and four straight to the Yankees this season to remain 5 1/2 games behind first-place Kansas City in the American League Central. Detroit has scored two runs or fewer 28 times, falling to 7-21 in those games.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Detroit, YES (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Alfredo Simon (7-3, 2.58 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Nathan Eovaldi (5-2, 5.12)

Simon blanked Cleveland on three hits over five innings on Sunday, marking the fifth time in six starts he has allowed two runs or fewer. His one blotch during that span came against Oakland on June 2, when he was reached for four runs and walked five over 6 1/3 innings. Simon finally earned his first victory over the Yankees on April 20, giving up one run in 7 1/3 innings to improve to 1-3 with a 4.31 ERA against them.

Eovaldi faced his former club in his last outing and failed to get out of the first inning in Miami, getting shelled for eight runs on nine hits to suffer his first defeat in more than a month. Even though he was unbeaten in his previous five starts, Eovadi was unable to go past 5 1/3 innings in three of those outings. He had one of his best efforts at Detroit on April 20, earning the victory with seven innings of one-run ball.

WALK-OFFS

1. Eight of Rodriguez's 13 homers have either tied the game or given New York the lead, but he is hitless in seven at-bats versus Simon.

2. Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera had his six-game RBI streak snapped but he has hit safely in seven straight games.

3. Yankees CF Mason Williams was forced to leave Friday's game with a jammed shoulder and his status for Saturday is uncertain.

PREDICTION: Yankees 5, Tigers 4