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Yankees-Tigers Game 1 suspended – Metro US

Yankees-Tigers Game 1 suspended

That Justin Verlander-CC Sabathia matchup that had everyone buzzing will have to wait.

After a delay of 77 minutes, Major League Baseball announced that Game One of the American League Division Series was suspended and would be picked up in the bottom of the second inning tied at 1-1.

Verlander took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the first inning on Delmon Young’s home run.

“I had a nice bullpen in front of half of America today,” Verlander said.

The Yankees scored their run without a hit on Alex Rodriguez’s groundout and, after Sabathia retired the side in the second, the game was delayed.

Game One will resume Saturday at 8:37 and Game Two will be played Sunday at 3:07.

“I’m disappointed,” Sabathia said. “There was so much build-up and anticipation. To have it rained out is disappointing.”

Both teams and MLB seemed to be surprised by the heavy rains, especially since there was little wind and it had not rained all day.

“Our forecast was light, intermittent showers,” Major League Baseball Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Joe Torre said. “[There was] nothing that was threatening except until late tonight. Obviously that forecast changed and we came up with the result that we did.”

Sabathia will watch from the dugout as Ivan Nova makes his postseason debut. After Nova continues the series opener, Freddy Garcia starts Game Two.

Trade acquisition Doug Fister will start for Detroit followed by Max Scherzer. Verlander will start Monday in Detroit and there is distinct possibility he might not face Sabathia, who would be pitching on two days rest.

And in a statistical oddity, official scoring rules state that Fister or Nova can get a win if they do not pitch five innings since technically they are relief pitchers.

“I think it’s the same [as starting],” Nova said. “You got to put it in your mind that you’re starting a game.”

It was the 23rd time this year the Yankees had a game impacted by rain and that includes two home games that began after 10:30 during the regular season. There also remains a possibility that the 24th instance could be Saturday night since weather.com is showing a 40 percent chance of rain at first pitch in the Bronx.

“It’s been going on all year,” Derek Jeter said. “We expect it.”

“It is par for the course,” Mark Teixeira added. “We’ve become kind of numb to it and we can’t do anything about the rain. So we come up and play until they tell us to get off the field. We’ll show up tomorrow and start in the second inning and have fun.”

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.