The Detroit Tigers ended the New York Yankees' season Thursday night with an 8-1 win in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

The win completed a four-game sweep for the Tigers, who eliminated the Yankees from the postseason for the second year in a row.

Yankees ace CC Sabathia lasted just 3.2 innings in Game 4, giving up six runs (five earned) on 11 hits. He walked two and struck out three.

The Tigers scored a run in the first inning and a run in the third inning before scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth on two-run home runs by Miguel Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta.

Peralta added a second home run in the bottom of the eighth. Austin Jackson also homered for the Tigers.

Game 4 was originally scheduled to be played Wednesday but rain forced it to be postponed until Thursday afternoon.

Slumping all-stars Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson were not in Thursday's starting lineup.

Rodriguez pinch hit for Raul Ibanez in the sixth inning with two on and two out and flew out to center field to end the inning. He later grounded out to short in the ninth.

Granderson pinch hit for Russell Martin in the seventh inning and struck out.

After the game, Rodriguez said he expects to be back next year.

"I love New York City and I love everything about being a Yankee," he said. "The highs are very high and the lows are extremely low. And there's no question the last few weeks were extremely difficult, not only on me but on all my teammates."

"This is never easy," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "I've been on both sides. It's never easy. There's only one team that's gonna be happy when the year ends. But they did a lot of good things and overcame a lot of good things this year. We know we fell short. We understand that."

This is the first time the Yankees were swept in a 7-game series since 1976.