Great, for those who were allowed to see it.
Tigers 5, Royals 1
Rick Porcello (18 GS, 119.1 IP, 3.39 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 1.7 fWAR) went seven innings and gave up one run tonight and it didn’t even feel like a particularly great start because this is starting to become the norm. He allowed six hits and three walks while punching out three, but he got himself out of some jams with some timing ground balls and well placed strikeouts. They grabbed a run in the 3rd and 4th and then unleashed their secret 9th inning weapon, JD Martinez, who homered to make it 3-1, who was followed shortly by Avila launching a 2-run shot to right center. The bullpen did the trick and the Tigers locked up the series and nothing worse than a 6.5 game lead heading into the break with one game to play. If Justin Verlander (19 GS, 122.2 IP, 4,84 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 1.7 fWAR) leads them to victory on Sunday, they’ll have a bigger division lead at the break than they did in 1984.
The Moment: Martinez and Avila add big insurance runs with 9th inning homers.
New English D 
Dear Mr. Weinberg,
In your twitter feed from the game, in ‘ most Porcello inning ever’, you differentiate between a ‘real’ single and a ‘BABIP’ single. What’s the difference?
Thank you!
Tom K.
A real single is a hard hit ball or one that’s hit cleanly to the outfield with no chance of being fielded. A BABIP single is a ball that isn’t hit too hard and barely finds a hole.
Thanks! I think I got it!