DETROIT >> Before the game, manager AJ Hinch was asked if this three-game series with the Yankees provided an early measuring stick for his team.

He didn’t love the question.

“I don’t think we need a measuring stick,” he said “I think we have a lot of confidence playing anybody. I realize the star power that comes with the Yankees. They’re good. But so are we.”

The Tigers had their skipper’s back.

On an abysmal day of weather at Comerica Park on Monday, the Tigers rode a two-out, three-run home run by Andy Ibáñez and a stellar start by Casey Mize to a 6-2 win over the Yankees.

“You’ve got guys playing in ski masks and continuously blowing on their hands just trying to stay as warm as they could,” Hinch said. “The more positive things you did, the better you felt today and for the lion’s share of the game, we were the team that could feel pretty good about ourselves.”

The Tigers smartly moved the start up to 3:10 p.m. but the conditions were still miserable. It was 38 degrees and snowing at game, with the wind was blowing at 13 mph.

“It was like playing through three different seasons,” Hinch said. “The sun came out a few times. It snowed. There was dreary rain…I don’t think anybody wanted to be out there any longer than they had to be. We did our best and both teams battled the elements and dealt with it.

“It got better as the game went on.”

The snow had just abated in the third inning when right-handed hitting Ibáñez slugged a 1-0 changeup off Yankees lefty Carlos Rodon into the Tigers’ bullpen in left field after Jake Rogers and Ryan Kreidler had drawn walks in the third inning.

Rodon took umbrage with home-plate umpire Bruce Dreckman for the 3-2 ball call on Kreidler. The Statcast box showed that Rodon had a beef.

“I’m glad I was finally able to hit a home run and put the team ahead,” Ibanez said through interpreter Carlos Guillen. “I was focusing on his breaking balls and his slow pitches and not his fastball. In spring training he threw a lot of curveballs to me, so I was looking for a slow pitch or breaking ball and he threw me a changeup and I was able to hit it well.”

The Tigers took advantage of an error and a walk to score two more runs in the fifth. Justyn-Henry Malloy cashed in both with a single to center. Rogers, who was on second, nearly beat Colt Keith, who was at third, to the plate on an extremely aggressive scamper.

“We both had the right idea,” said Rogers, whose fingerprints were all over this win. “Colt went back to tag just in case. But I saw him go back and I absolutely panicked. He juked me out. I don’t know if you saw the look on my face but it was something like, ‘Oh (crap).’

“But I got far enough out that I was able to score.”

Rogers, who walked three times and scored twice in the game, helped Mize out of an early jam in the top of the third inning.

With one out and the game scoreless, Yankees’ leadoff hitter Ben Rice ripped a triple into the right-center field gap.

With slugger Aaron Judge coming up, the Yankees were in position to take an early lead. But Rogers, the Tigers’ catcher, caught Rice straying too far down the line and picked him off, throwing a seed to third baseman Ibanez.

“All these guys around the infield know if they see something, let me know,” said Rogers, who picked off White Sox runner Brooks Baldwin at first base Saturday. “I’m looking on every pitch, especially first and third.

“I was looking at him the whole time and he was getting a little far off, I though. The only thing I’m looking for is Andy’s confirmation.”

Ibanez gave Rogers the signal. Rogers stepped in front of Judge and fired a strike to third base.

“When you have Judge up and you’re 90 feet away from him, I think the infielders thought it was great because they could back up,” Hinch said. “But that was awesome. It didn’t get us out of the inning right away because Judge was still up but it completely changed the inning.

“Just like the other day, Jake rescued us from a bad situation.”

Before the game, Hinch had asked pitching coach Chris Fetter if Mize would be able to use his splitter, given the cold, wet elements. No worries. Mize, remarkably, was able to command all of his pitches, checking the Yankees on four hits and a run with six strikeouts in six innings to earn his first win at Comerica Park since 2021.

“His ability to be tough enough to mentally hold it together in some really crazy elements was impressive,” Hinch said. “We didn’t play perfect behind him but he didn’t waver. He really carried us, pitching-wise, through the meat of this game.”

Mize had said on Sunday that he didn’t mind pitching in cold weather. And even though Monday might’ve been the coldest game he ever played in, it didn’t bother him much.

“The elements were a little tough,” he said. “I had trouble at times gripping the ball. But we’re all playing in these elements.”

The lone run came in the fifth after Mize put himself in harm’s way, walking Rice ahead of Judge with two outs and runner on. Judge made him pay for that, ripping and RBI single.

He minimized damage, striking out Cody Bellinger with back-to-back splitters. The Yankees whiffed on six of the eight splitters they swung at.

“It was certainly disappointing to walk Rice there,” Mize said. “I knew Aaron was on-deck. Just keep him in the yard, you know? The key to beating this team is to keep them in the yard. I tried to throw Aaron a fastball in and get soft contact. It was not soft contact. But I kept him on the ground and limit the damage there.

“Then to punch-out Bellinger, that was as big moment just to flush the walk and the single.”

Shortstop Javier Báez helped thwart a potential Yankees’ rally in the seventh.

With a runner at first and one out, Oswaldo Cabrera shot one up the middle. The ball hit off reliever Tyler Holton’s glove. Báez was able to get to the carom and tipped it with his glove to Keith at second base.

Keith made the pivot and completed the double play.

The Tigers (6-4) have won four straight.