Keyed by a career day for Roger Cedeno, the Detroit Tigers routed the Yankees on Wednesday night, 12-4. Cedeno had the first multihomer game of his career, missing the cycle by a single as his team salvaged a split in the day-night doubleheader. Cedeno only had two homers coming into the game, but he equaled his season output in his first two at-bats against Ted Lilly. He even led off the game with a homer, setting the tone for the tenacious Tigers. "I feel so happy." Cedeno said. "I just concentrated, saw the ball and made contact. It wasn't really anything different. It was just one of those days when you're finding holes and things happen."

In the third frame, Cedeno pounced on Lilly again, sending a three-run shot over the wall in right-center. That homer was measured at 374 feet, but more importantly, it gave Detroit a 4-0 lead. "I'm upset with the way I'm throwing," Lilly said. "It's frustrating to go out there and again not give us a chance to win the game." "It looked like he was trying to overdo it a bit," Joe Torre said of his rookie starter. "I know you keep hearing the same thing, but inexperienced pitchers, they have to work through it. He may have been done under by Cedeno, who had a hell of a day. We still need to work at it." Lilly (3-3) didn't have his stuff on Wednesday night, and he couldn't survive without it like Roger Clemens did earlier in the day. Clemens pitched on three days' rest, but he found a way to win, leading the Yanks to an 8-5 victory. Cedeno had a big day in that game as well, reaching base four times and stealing three bases. But he really put his stamp on the second game, scoring four runs and driving in a career-high six runs. "It's hard to control this game," Cedeno said. "It was hard to go out there and play two games today. I just went out there and tried to do my best." The Yankees scored an isolated run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, and then Cedeno turned up the heat even further. In the fifth, the leadoff man stroked a double to left and stole third base. Damion Easley doubled to score Cedeno and then came around on a triple to center from Bob Higginson. That was it for Lilly. Torre came to get him, signaling for Todd Williams. The reliever had just been activated from the disabled list this morning, in place of the ailing Adrian Hernandez. Lilly may have been gone from the game, but he wasn't forgotten -- Williams gave up a double to Wendell Magee, scoring Higginson to put another run in Lilly's box score. In four innings, the rookie was charged with nine hits and seven runs, six earned. "It's a learning process and he can't get frustrated," Torre said. "He still has the stuff where they swing and miss. That's the intriguing part for me, and that means he's got big-league stuff." The next batter, Shane Halter, made things even worse for the Yankees. Halter blasted a homer to right field, making the score 9-1. On the other side of things, Detroit rookie Victor Santos was doing an extremely credible job. Santos (2-2) pitched six innings, allowing two runs and eight hits. The road team had several scoring opportunities, but Santos kept them from the big inning. "He threw the ball well. His ball moves a lot," Derek Jeter said after the game. "I thought we hit the ball well, but we never got the big hit when we needed it. He got out of some jams." In the eighth inning, with the score 9-2, the Yankees had their best chance. Todd Jones was on the mound, and he got the first batter to ground out. After that, the Yankees strung together four straight singles off the erstwhile closer. Shane Spencer got the first base hit, and he moved to second on a single by Luis Sojo. Alfonso Soriano followed with a hard shot to right, scoring Spencer and sending Sojo to third. Gerald Williams made it 9-4 with a single up the middle, and that was it for Jones. Danny Patterson came in, and he got Derek Jeter to ground out. Bernie Williams worked a full count, then fouled off two pitches before drawing a walk. With the bases loaded, Tino Martinez grounded out to first. Cedeno made the Yankees pay in the bottom of the eighth, swiftly responding to the road team's resurgence. With two men on, Cedeno smashed a triple to left-center, increasing the Tiger advantage to 11-4. He scored on a sacrifice fly to provide the final margin. "We had plenty of opportunities, we kept applying pressure, but we just couldn't get close enough to touch them," said Torre. "It's always tough to win two games," Jeter said. "They played us tough. They came out and swung the bats and scored a lot of runs."