Detroit @ New York Game Overview

Five months later, both teams are in heated playoff races as the Yankees host the Tigers in a three-game series that begins Tuesday.

The Yankees (80-63) dropped two of three at Detroit in April when the gametime temperature was never higher than 42 degrees. New York won the final game of the series and took a seven-game lead in the AL East through May 28 before experiencing a two-month slump.

The Yankees went 25-34 from May 30-Aug. 5 but have since recovered.

Since holding on for a 3-2 victory at Texas on Aug. 6, New York is 20-9. And since getting outscored 19-4 in three straight losses at home against the Red Sox from Aug. 21-23, the Yankees are on an 11-3 run.

The Yankees trail the Blue Jays by two games in the division for the second time since Aug. 30. New York struggled in a 7-1 loss to Toronto on Friday but followed with a pair of victories, including a 4-3 victory Sunday.

Cody Bellinger had three hits in the most recent victory, including a tiebreaking RBI double in the third inning. He is batting .338 (25-for-74) over his past 19 games with five home runs and 16 RBIs.

The Yankees' Ben Rice hit a three-run homer off Max Scherzer in the first inning and is hitting .284 (29-for-102) in his past 27 games.

"It's huge," Rice said. "And with that being said, we've got more work to do, so we're going to keep going."

Detroit (82-62) holds an 8 1/2 game lead over the Kansas City Royals for the AL Central and also leads Toronto by a half-game for the AL's top record and home field advantage throughout the postseason.

The Tigers have held sole possession of the AL Central lead since April 23 but have gone 4-9 since a five-game winning streak Aug. 18-23. Detroit lost its second straight series when it dropped two of three at home over the weekend to the Chicago White Sox.

During Sunday's 6-4 loss, six Detroit pitchers combined to allow a season-high nine walks. It marked the sixth time in their past 13 game the Tigers issued at least four walks.

"We lost a series that I feel like we should have won if we executed a little bit better on both sides of the ball," Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. "So we'll start with an off day (Monday), get to Tuesday, hopefully with a win, and try to continue stacking series wins. That'll get us where we want to get to."

Detroit struck out 29 times in the series and went 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position after mustering four hits Sunday.

New York's starting pitchers are 10-1 with a 2.29 ERA in the past 13 games and right-hander Will Warren (8-6, 4.28 ERA) opens the series with his first career start against Detroit.

Warren allowed two runs on five hits in five innings in Wednesday's 8-7 loss at Houston, marking the seventh time in eight starts he allowed two earned runs or less.

Tigers' right-hander Casey Mize (13-5, 3.87) is set to start Tuesday. He is 4-1 with a 5.17 ERA in his past six starts and allowed 12 runs on 20 hits in his previous three outings before allowing one run in five innings in Wednesday's 6-2 win over the visiting New York Mets.

Mize allowed one run on four hits in six innings at home to the Yankees April 7 and is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in three career starts against New York.

--Field Level Media