How Was The Game? (April 13, 2014)
A quiet one for the bats.
Padres 5, Tigers 1
Max Scherzer (3 GS, 20 IP, 2.70 ERA, 2.73 FIP, 0.6 fWAR) turned in a final line that belies the overall body of work. He allowed a no doubt homerun and a three run ambush, but he also dominated around those mistakes with ten strikeouts in five innings. It wasn’t a Cy Young kind of day, but there was certainly a lot to like. The bats couldn’t get going on his behalf as Tyson Ross pitched very well and kept the Tigers at bay. They got a chance to take on Benoit for the first time since he left Detroit, but nothing came of the interaction, nor of their threat in the 9th. The club will take a day off to fly home for a three game set against Cleveland that starts Tuesday with Anibal Sanchez (2 GS, 9IP, 3.00 ERA, 2.52 FIP, 0.2 fWAR) getting the ball in game one.
The Moment: Rajai Davis makes a diving catch in left.
How Was The Game? (April 12, 2014)
One for the ages.
Tigers 6, Padres 2
Justin Verlander (3 GS, 21 IP, 2.57 ERA, 2.83 FIP, 0.6 fWAR) pitched well, sure, but that isn’t why Saturday’s game was memorable. Oh no, Saturday’s game will go down in Tigers lore as the day Verlander finally got his first major league hit. And his second. The veteran ace obviously doesn’t get a whole lot of chances to come to the plate, but he was 0-26 in 35 tries. That’s even pretty awful for an AL pitcher. Verlander broke through with two singles, and a run scored to help his cause and sent the Tigers to 6-3 on the year with a chance to take the series on Sunday behind Max Scherzer (2 GS, 15 IP, 1.20 ERA, 2.48 FIP, 0.4 fWAR). Davis, Kinsler, Hunter, and Jackson also contributed to the win, but I mean, come on, Verlander actually got a hit.
The Moment: Verlander earns his first (and second) career hits.
How Was The Game? (April 11, 2014)
A tip of the cap.
Padres 6, Tigers 0
Rick Porcello (2 GS, 13 IP, 4.15 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 0.2 fWAR) didn’t have his best against the Padres on Friday night, but even if he turned in a better start, it wouldn’t have mattered. He looked good at times, but also allowed some hard contact against a club that was due for a good offensive showing. The story of the game was the opposing starter, Andrew Cashner, who dominated the Tigers from start to finish with a nice mix of sinkers, changeups, and sliders. The team had a couple of scoring chances, but nothing came of them and they dropped to 5-3 on the season. They’ll turn the rotation over on Saturday, giving the ball to Justin Verlander (2 GS, 14 IP, 2.57 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 0.3 fWAR) to try and even the series
The Moment: Avila, Romine, and Martinez hook up for a 2-6-3 double play.
How Was The Game? (April 9, 2014)
A team effort.
Tigers 7, Dodgers 6
It’s tough to give full credit to any one Tiger on this night as Anibal Sanchez (2 GS, 9 IP, 3.00 ERA, 2.55 FIP, 0.3 fWAR) kept the Dodgers at bay across 5 innings and launched a run-scoring double of his own. Other key players who factored into the decision were Nick Castellanos who swatted a go-ahead 3-run bomb to dead center in the 3rd – the first of his MLB career. The Tigers also ran wild on the bases and Drew Smyly was excellent in relief as the team pushed their record to 5-2 on the season after splitting the two game set with the Dodgers. Nathan blew the lead in the 9th, but Victor Martinez wouldn’t hear of it. He launched a solo shot in the 10th off Jansen and everyone went home happy. After an off day on Thursday, Rick Porcello (1 GS, 6.2 IP, 1.35 ERA, 3.22 FIP, 0.1 fWAR) will get the ball on Friday in San Diego.
The Moment: Sanchez doubles in a run, Nick sends his first bomb to dead center, and VMart goes deep.
How Was The Game? (April 8, 2014)
One that started and ended strangely.
Dodgers 3, Tigers 2
Max Scherzer (2 GS, 15 IP, 1.20 ERA, 2.39 FIP, 0.4 fWAR) gave the Tigers 7 solid innings on Tuesday, but there’s just no escaping the fact that he allowed a leadoff homerun to Dee Gordon. Regardless of his effectiveness throughout the rest of the game, we’re going to remember this one as the one in which Dee Gordon turned on Scherzer and hit a homer. Dee Gordon. Jackson did his part for the cause responding with a solo shot, but the Dodgers grabbed an extra run in the bottom of the 7th – a run that scored on a poor throw from Jackson, no less. Kinsler led off the 9th with a double, Jansen got Kelly and struck out Cabrera, but Martinez tied it with a looper to center to set up a walk off single/ball gets by a weird dive by Rajai Davis. The loss drops the team to 4-2 on the year and they’ll send Anibal Sanchez (1 GS, 4 IP, 4.50 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 0.0 fWAR) to the mound on Wednesday looking for a split.
The Moment: Martinez singles in the tying run in the 9th.
How Was The Game? (April 6, 2014)
A crisp one with the wrong outcome.
Orioles 3, Tigers 1
Justin Verlander (2 GS, 14 IP, 2.57 ERA, 3.54 FIP, 0.4 fWAR) did his part across 8 innings, but after four straight victories the Tigers bats couldn’t offer enough support to complete the sweep of the Orioles. Hunter homered in the 4th to give the Tigers the lead, but the Orioles grabbed single runs in the 6th and 8th off Verlander to go up 2-1 and the bullpen didn’t do much to keep it close in the 9th as Alburquerque allowed an extra run to push the deficit to two. The heart of the order came around in the 9th, but they were unable to capture their third walk off win of the young season. After taking Monday off, the Tigers will take on the Dodgers Tuesday night behind Max Scherzer (1 GS, 8 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.81 FIP, 0.3 fWAR).
The Moment: Hunter hits his third homer in as many games.
One Quick Thing: Porcello Deploys The Slider
So for a long time, Rick Porcello’s biggest issue was that he couldn’t quite figure out his breaking ball. He was using a slider, but it wasn’t working for him at all and he famously shifted to a curveball in 2013 which worked really well. Porcello used it to improve his strikeout rate significantly and when paired with his solid changeup and dynamite sinker, he took the leap for which everyone had been waiting.
A funny thing happened on Saturday. Porcello pulled out the slider and it generated some swinging strikes.
If you’re not well-versed in the parlance of the game, pitchers who strike batters out are more likely to be successful, which seems obvious. But beyond that, pitchers who get batters to swing and miss are are more likely to get strikeouts. Apply the transitive property and you have Swings and Misses = Success. It’s obviously not perfect, but it’s a good sign. Porcello was already way better in 2013 without the slider (he threw one about 5-6% of the time). If this becomes something he can tap into on occasion (he threw 10 out of 93 today, including five swinging strikes), things could get very, very interesting for the 25 year old right hander.
How Was The Game? (April 5, 2014)
Everything for which one could hope, if you turned the game off after 8.
Tigers 7, Orioles 6
Rick Porcello (1 GS, 6 ⅔ IP, 1.35 ERA, 3.22 FIP, 0.1 fWAR) allowed a run in the 1st, but after allowing the first two runners to reach in the 2nd, he took over the game and made the Orioles wish they hadn’t gotten out of bed. He allowed a lone walk the rest of the way, finish with 6 ⅔ strong innings in his opening start of the year. He didn’t have to worry about run support in this one thanks in large part to Torii Hunter who cleared the bases with a double in the 3rd and launched a 2-run HR in the 5th to put it out of reach. Don Kelly tripled in a run in the 6th and scored on a sac fly and it would prove to be a massive one as the bullpen melted down in the 9th inning, allowing five runs in Valverdesque fashion. Justin Verlander (1 GS, 6 IP, 3.00 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 0.1 fWAR) will get the ball on Sunday looking for the sweep an a 5-0 homestand to start the year.
The Moment: Hunter clears the bases with a double to left in the 3rd.
One Quick Thing: Anibal’s Magic Pitch
Anibal Sanchez missed a little time this spring with a minor shoulder injury and had some bad fortune with respect to the weather over the last couple of weeks, which meant he had a short leash going into Friday’s start. He had some issues early, but settled in quite nicely during innings 2-4.
Last year, Sanchez had the highest swing and miss rate of his career, due in part to his ability to generate more whiffs with his changeup. On Friday, he threw a “changeup off his changeup” as Dan and Jim put it, taking some extra off the pitch to make Adam Jones look silly. You’ll notice that pitch way down there at about 75 mph.
This is a nice weapon. Not only does Sanchez throw a changeup around 83-84 mph to go with his 92-95 mph fastball, he occasionally breaks out a low to mid 70s version that works quite nicely. He averaged about one a start last year depending on how you divide up the velocity. They weren’t more effective than his normal changeup, but it’s a nice option to have in the ol’ arsenal. Plus, I mean, look at it.
How Was The Game? (April 4, 2014)
All backwards!
Tigers 10, Orioles 4
Things went well today for the Tigers, but things went a little bit strangely too. The game started a tad late due to some morning showers and Anibal Sanchez (1 GS, 4 IP, 4.50 ERA, 3.87 ERA, 0.1 fWA8) stumbled his way through a two run 1st inning. After that, he settled in, but would get chased by rain just an hour and a half later to continue his string of weather impacted starts. The bats woke up in the second inning as they cashed in three runs courtesy of a Jackson double, Avila walk, Castellanos double, Davis HBP, Kinsler single, and a wild pitch. When the rain arrived in the 4th, Castellanos and Romine were on base and Rajai Davis got the game under way after the delay with a three run bomb. Hunter followed two batters later to make it 7-2. Also included in this one were a Victor Martinez stolen base, a bad call at second base that Ausmus challenged, but somehow didn’t win, a heck of a throw by Andrew Romine, and then a Cabrera bomb that doubled as his 2,000th hit. All in all, it wasn’t a typical baseball game but the Tigers won it easily thanks to a tandem effort by Sanchez and Smyly and quality hitting. They won with power and made outs on the bases, so this is basically the exact opposite of the team they were supposed to be, but you tend not to complain about such things. They’ll try to grab their second series of the year Saturday afternoon behind the talented Rick Porcello (1st starter of 2014).
The Moment: Davis homers to put this one out of reach.
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