Ivan Nova Stats to Watch
Nova is winless with a 7.54 ERA in four starts since the All-Star break -- one start shy of the longest winless streak of his career, which occurred at the end of the 2010 season.

One issue in the second half of the season has been his performance with runners in scoring position. Before the break, he held batters to a .193 average with RISP, tied for fifth-lowest among AL starters; in his last four starts, opponents are hitting .308 with RISP against Nova.

In the first half, Nova was adept at getting the big strikeout when facing the pressure of pitching with runners in scoring position.

Since then he's lost command of his pitches, and has more walks (5) than strikeouts (3) in RISP at-bats after the break.

Nova is reaching more pitcher's counts with runners in scoring position since the break (68 percent) compared to the first half (58 percent), but hasn’t been able to finish off batters. Opponents have an .876 OPS against him after reaching a pitcher's count with RISP since the break, compared to .519 before the break.

Justin Verlander Stats to Watch
Verlander had his 63-game streak of at least six innings pitched snapped last week, when his start against the Red Sox was shortened to five innings because of rain. Prior to that outing, the last time he didn’t complete six innings was Aug. 17, 2010 against the Yankees.

Verlander is 4-4 with a 4.17 ERA in 12 regular season starts against the Yankees. That's his worst ERA among the 12 teams he's pitched at least 50 innings against. The Yankees are one of five teams he has a .500 record against. The only team he has a losing record against is the Red Sox (3-4).

Verlander has allowed 14 runs over 20⅓ innings in his last three starts against the Yankees, including the postseason. The Yankees' righties have crushed him for nine hits, including four homers, in 25 at-bats (.360).

He has thrown more than half his pitches to the Yankee righties either in the middle- or outer-third of the zone or further away, and they went 7-for-12 (.583) in at-bats ending in those pitches; conversely, they were just 2-for-13 (.154) when he threw an inside pitch.

Key Matchups
Mark Teixeira is 3-for-31 (.097) career versus Verlander, his worst average against any pitcher he's faced at least 30 times. Robinson Cano hasn’t fared much better against the Tigers ace, hitting just .147, his worst average against any pitcher he's faced 20 times.

Derek Jeter is a .350 (14-for-40) hitter against Verlander. That's the highest batting average by a right-handed batter against Verlander (minimum 30 plate appearances).

Motown Blues
The Yankees are 24-26 in the regular season at Comerica Park, which opened in 2000. Since that season, the only other American League road ballpark the Yankees have a losing record at is Angels Stadium, where they are 25-34.