Sanchez leads Tigers to second win

The Detroit Tigers made it two wins out of two in their American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.

Anibal Sanchez shut down the Yankees as the Tigers recorded a 3-0 victory on Sunday.

Sanchez hurled seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out seven.

And after regular closer Jose Valverde blew a four-run lead in the ninth on Saturday, the Tigers this time turned to Phil Coke, who took the ball in the eighth and earned a two-inning save.

Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda also threw six shut-out frames but allowed one in the seventh and another two in the eighth before being pulled.

In a game in which runs were hard to come by, Miguel Cabrera led the Detroit offence with two hits and an RBI.

Worryingly for the Yankees, the seven-game series now heads to Detroit.

Two-run homers from David Freese and Carlos Beltran helped the St Louis Cardinals to a 6-4 win over the San Francisco Giants in the opening game of the National League Championship Series.

Freese homered in the second before Beltran's blast capped a four-run top of the fourth for the Cardinals, which gave them a 6-0 cushion.

Gregor Blanco then had a two-run triple as the Giants clawed back four of their own in the bottom of the inning, but the Cardinals bullpen held firm, led by Jason Motte who got the save.