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DETROIT, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Jhonny Peralta led a home run barrage Thursday that pushed Detroit into the World Series with an 8-1 win and an ALCS sweep of the New York Yankees. The Tigers completed a dominating four games, during which they outscored the Yankees 19-6 and held New York to a .156 team batting average, its lowest ever in a playoff series.
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Detroit will have the next five days off before opening a bid for its first World Series title in 28 years against either St. Louis or San Francisco.
The fourth and final game of the league championship series symbolized the ease with which Detroit rolled over the Yankees. The Tigers outhit New York 16-2, both of the Yankees' hits coming off starter Max Scherzer during his 5 2/3 innings of work.
Scherzer struck out 10 in recording his first playoff victory this season and the second of his career.
Three relievers combined to throw 3 1/3 hitless innings with Phil Coke working the last two frames.
The Yankees suffered their fourth sweep in a best-of-seven playoff series. The other three occasions took place in the World Series -- against Cincinnati in 1976, the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963 and the New York Giants in 1922.
New York superstar Alex Rodriguez, benched for a portion of the playoffs due to a severe batting slump, was not in the starting lineup but came on to get two at-bats as a designated hitter. He did not have a hit in either trip to the plate and finished the series with a batting average of .125.
Detroit pounded out 11 hits against New York starter CC Sabathia, including a first-inning single by Delmon Young that put the Tigers in front for good.
Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Peralta added a two-run shot later in the inning that gave Detroit a 6-0 lead. Austin Jackson contributed a solo shot in the seventh and Peralta finished the scoring with a solo blast in the eighth.
New York's only run came on Nick Swisher's RBI double in the sixth, the inning in which the Yankees produced their only two hits.
The four-game sweep was the first in the ALCS since Detroit pulled off the feat six years ago against Oakland before losing to St. Louis in the World Series.
Detroit's last World Series triumph came over the San Diego Padres in 1984. Their previous championship came over St. Louis in 1968, the year before Major League Baseball expanded its playoffs from two to four teams.
With Detroit Manager Jim Leyland now able to set his starting rotation for the World Series, he is likely to send Justin Verlander to the mound for Game 1. Verlander has won all three of his starts during this year's playoffs with an 0.74 earned run average over 24 1/3 innings.
