Tigers' Rogers pickoff artist, Rodriguez gets 3 hits as Detroit continues to thrive against Yanks

Tigers left fielder Gary Sheffield slides to make a catch on ball hit by the Yankees' Chad Moeller in the third inning.

Duane Burleson / AP

Tigers left fielder Gary Sheffield slides to make a catch on ball hit by the Yankees' Chad Moeller in the third inning.

DETROIT - Kenny Rogers picked off his major league record 92nd runner and the Detroit Tigers picked up right back where they left off in the Bronx - taking it to the New York Yankees.

Rogers held New York to just two runs in six-plus innings and picked Wilson Betemit off first base in the second inning, helping Detroit to a 6-5 win over the Yankees.

"Picking guys off is something I'm proud of," Rogers said. "That's secondary to what I'm trying to do, which is keeping the runners close, but I do try to get them."

Detroit won for just the second time in eight games since sweeping the Yankees in a three-game series in New York. It was the Tigers' first sweep of at least three games at Yankee Stadium since 1966.

"His control was coming and going, but he did a great job," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said of Rogers. "That was a very good performance."

Ivan Rodriguez had three hits and drove in a pair of runs and the Yankees scored three off Todd Jones in the ninth, but still lost for the third time in four games.

Kei Igawa's season debut was a forgettable one for New York. He lasted just three-plus innings, allowing six runs on 11 hits.

"His strike-to-ball ratio was good, he worked much quicker but he couldn't get a breaking ball, whether it was his change-up or his slider," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You have to be able to throw off-speed pitches for strikes. They were able to basically focus in on one pitch."

In the third inning, Rodriguez drove in a run with a double, and Magglio Ordonez and Gary Sheffield also had run-scoring hits to give Detroit a 4-1 lead.

The Tigers scored two more in the fourth, on left-fielder Hideki Matsui's error and Placido Polanco's RBI single.

Jason Giambi homered in the second, giving him 184 with the Yankees, passing Tommy Henrich and tying Charlie Keller for 16th place in team history.

New York scored in the ninth on Robinson Cano's RBI groundout, Derek Jeter's run-scoring single and Bobby Abreu's RBI double before Shelley Duncan lined out to center to end the game.

"I was concerned, because that's a perfect example of how important it is to get the leadoff guy in the ninth," Leyland said. "Todd had the guy 0-2, and if he gets him, the game probably ends without any excitement."

NOTES: Carlos Guillen hit a sacrifice fly for Detroit in the first inning. ... Sheffield has 1,583 RBIs, tying former Tiger Al Kaline for 35th place in major league history. ... The Yankees committed three errors. ... Detroit relievers had three wild pitches.