NEW YORK -- Right-hander Tyson Ross made his Tigers debut on Monday night, and the long ball ended up costing him against the Yankees in a 3-1 loss at Yankee Stadium.

Ross pitched five innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits, striking out four batters. After recording two strikeouts in a scoreless first, Ross found himself behind, 2-0, after three innings.

Gary Sanchez led off for New York in the second inning and hit the ball over the center-field wall to give New York the lead. An inning later, the Tigers' defense betrayed Ross. With a runner on first, Greg Bird singled to left as the ball went past Christin Stewart for an error, which allowed Luke Voit to score from first on the play.

"I felt pretty good, but, unfortunately, but the Yankees were a little bit better. We were down the whole game," Ross said. "I threw 40 pitches in the first [innings]. I put that pitch count up. I would have loved to pitch six or seven innings and be a little more efficient out there. It was matter of getting strike one."

Detroit was able to get an unearned run back in the fourth against Yankees right-hander Domingo German, who gave the Yankees five solid innings. With runners on first and second, German threw a wild pitch, allowing the runners to advance, but when Sanchez tried to throw out Jordy Mercer at second base, the ball went past shortstop Gleyber Torres for an error, allowing Stewart to score.

"[German] has great stuff. He has a great fastball in the mid-90s with a breaking ball that really comes out of hand really hard," Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He has a slider and a big curve looking like a slurvy-looking thing. So the kid has a big arm. We made him battle. We made him throw some pitches."

Two innings later the Yankees were able to get the run back as Brett Gardner swung at a 3-2 pitch and hit the ball into the Yankees' bullpen in right-center for a homer.

"Our guy, Ross, he gave us a good opportunity. I enjoyed that part of it," Gardenhire said. "He gave up a couple of runs here and there. Nothing too awful big. This ballpark can really eat you up when the ball is flying."

The Tigers' best chance to rally came in the eighth inning against reliever Adam Ottavino. They had runners on first and second and no outs, but Niko Goodrum lined out to right fielder Aaron Judge, who made a diving grab to hold the runners. It had a 35 percent catch probability, according to Statcast. To make the play, Judge had to cover 40 feet in 3.1 seconds.

Jeimer Candelario and Stewart then flied out to end the threat.

"The play [made by Judge in right field], no doubt about it," Gardenhire said. "He dives for that and it gets by him, we have a tie ballgame. That was the play of the game."

The Tigers went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

"Once we get guys on, we are having a hard time getting them in," Goodrum said. "Every team goes through that. We are in a spell, but we are going to come out of it."