How Was The Game? (April 28, 2013)
Awesome.
Tigers 8, Braves 3
The Tigers took the field Sunday knowing they had already taken the series against the Braves, but didn’t leave their brooms at home. Doug Fister got the strikeout working early and often and finished with 8 K’s in 7 innings, while allowing 3 runs, all of which came in one awkward inning. The bats delivered for Fister as Austin Jackson and Miguel Cabrera both smacked 3 run homeruns in the 3rd and 7th inning, respectively. Infante also provided a solo homerun and Martinez added a sac fly to round out the score. Alburquerque pitched a scoreless 8th, but put the first two men on in the 9th and Valverde was called on to get the final three outs in the 9th. The Tigers have now won three straight and four of their last five, sending them to 13-10 on the season as they welcome the Twins in for three starting tomorrow behind Max Scherzer (2-0, 24 IP, 4.53 ERA, 1.54 FIP, 1.1 WAR).
The Moment: Jackson slams a three run bomb to left center in the 3rd.
How Was The Game? (April 27, 2013)
A nice bounce back for Porcello.
Tigers 7, Braves 4
The Tigers came into today’s game on a high note thanks to a 10-0 win on Friday, but the starting pitcher, Rick Porcello was coming off his worst performance by results of his career. The Tigers would provide him with 7 runs thanks in part to homeruns by Peralta and Infante and Porcello wouldn’t need more. His only issue came in the 3rd inning when he allowed 3 runs, but none of the balls were hit hard and three batters reached via infield groundballs. His only real mistake was a bases loaded walk to Dan Uggla. Aside from the 3rd inning, Porcello allowed just one hit over his 6.1 innings of work while striking out 5 and using his changeup more effectively than I can ever remember. Smyly finished the 7th with two strikeouts and Benoit got three outs in the 8th despite allowing a Justin Upton homerun. Leyland called for Valverde in the 9th for his second appearance of the season and he retired the Braves in order. With the win, the Tigers improve to 12-10 on the season and set themselves up to go for a sweep of the Braves on Sunday night behind Doug Fister (27 IP, 3-0, 2.00 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 0.5 WAR).
The Moment: Infante delivers a 2-out homer in the 4th to put the Tigers ahead for good.
How Was The Game? (April 26, 2013)
A good old fashion whooping.
Tigers 10, Braves 0
Many, if not all, baseball observers would likely tell you that the Atlanta Braves have been the best team in baseball over the first four weeks of the 2013 season. The Tigers did not seem to care on Friday night as they opened their interleague series against the Braves by destroying them. Not only did the Tigers score 10 runs, but they did so against one of the best rotations in the league and one of the hottest starting pitchers in Paul Maholm. If that wasn’t enough, Anibal Sanchez violated the Braves hitters by striking out 17 in 8 innings while walking just 1 and allowing 5 hits and no runs. Those 17 strikeouts are a Tigers franchise record for a pitcher in a 9 inning game. Put another way, the Tigers had their best offensive output in the same game that they received their best pitching performance, all while playing the league’s best team. All in all, that’s a good day at the office as they improve to 11-10. Sanchez’s line earns him a remarkable -0.88 FIP for the day and lowers his season ERA and FIP to 1.34 and 1.36, respectively. By WAR, he’s now tied for 2nd best for a pitcher in the majors this season with Yu Darvish (1.7) thanks to a 10.96 K/9 and 1.13 BB/9. The Tigers will look to take the series behind Porcello tomorrow afternoon against Kris Medlen.
The Moment: Anibal Sanchez delivers his 17th strikeout to set a career and franchise record.
How Was The Game? (April 25, 2013)
Great, until the bullpen showed up.
Royals, 8, Tigers 3
Two of the better starters in the AL over the last couple of seasons hooked up for a matinee on Thursday at Comerica Park and did a fairly good job limiting the offensive output. Verlander surrendered 2 runs over 7 innings and Shields held the Tigers to 3 over 8. After Verlander left the game with “cracked skin” on his thumb (which has to be the lamest injury you can have!), Leyland called for the rookie Bruce Rondon, who surrendered the tying run in the 8th inning. Rondon wasn’t particularly ineffective in his MLB debut, but he wasn’t brilliant and the Tigers would need to deliver a walk off win to overcome his appearance and they would need it to come in extra innings after Collins retired them in order in the 9th. Unfortunately, Phil Coke had other ideas and melted down in the top of the 10th allowing a double, walk, wild pitch, intentional walk, and another walk to give up the lead with just one out. He left the bases loaded for Darin Downs who allowed a grand slam before getting out of the inning with the score 8-3. The loss drops the Tigers to 10-10 on the season with the Braves coming to town for a weekend set starting tomorrow. It will be Maholm and Sanchez for game one.
The Moment: Gordon puts it out of reach with a bomb to dead center.
How Was The Game? (April 24, 2013)
Not one for purists.
Tigers 7, Royals 5
It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. The Tigers got ahead early, but Scherzer struggled in the 3rd inning and gave up 4 runs. The Tigers paid Wade Davis back and hung 7 runs on him and chased him after just 11 outs, so things evened out thanks to Cabrera, Martinez, and Peralta. The offense did their part, but Scherzer inconsistently worked through 5 and relied on his bullpen for the final four innings. Alburquerque and Benoit got the Tigers to the 9th, at which point it was time for the return of Jose Valverde, who Leyland put right back into the closer role without a second thought. The reception was mostly positive from the hometown crowd as he arrived to the mound for his first outing in 2013. He went to his fastball for all 18 pitches and got all three Royals he faced despite a long fly ball to Dirks for the final out. It seems fitting a game that featured 13 walks would end with a Valverde return to the 9th inning. He got the job done, but I didn’t see anything from him that makes me less concerned about his return. Verlander and Shields suit up tomorrow for the series finale at 1pm.
The Moment: Victor Martinez is thrown out by 30 feet at home plate in the 4th inning and decides to simply walk to the dugout instead of face a collision or slide at the plate. Tom Brookens is comforted by Gene Lamont.
How Was The Game? (April 21, 2013)
One they should have had.
Angels 4, Tigers 3
After two blowouts to open the series, the Tigers sent Doug Fister to the mound to salvage a win in LA and he was equal to the task on Sunday. Fister went 7 innings and held the Angels to 3 runs (2 earned), but those should all be unearned due to the official scorer calling something that was clearly an error on Cabrera a double. Fister didn’t get a ton of help from his defense, but he provided some of his own and limited the damaged that occurred due to errors and should-be errors. Wilson, on the other side, danced around trouble all day until Prince Fielder broke out in the 5th with a two run homerun to tie the game. Alburquerque entered in the 8th innings to relieve Fister and struck out the side which set up a failed scoring chance in the 9th in which the Tigers left the bases loaded four batters after a blown call at second cost them an out. Al-Al shut the Angels down in the 9th and sent this series finale into extra innings. Despite scoring opportunities, neither side could deliver a run until Mark Trumbo ended the game with a homerun to left field off Phil Coke in the 13 inning, Coke’s third inning of work. No one can blame the pitching for this one, as the defense and bats let the Tigers down in their attempt to win one in LA. The Tigers head home with a 9-9 record after going 4-5 on the roadtrip that ended with a sweep at the hands of the Angels. They’ll be in action again on Tuesday against the Royals behind Max Scherzer at Comerica Park.
The Moment: Trumbo walks off to sweep the Tigers in the 13th.
How Was The Game? (April 20, 2013)
Kind of a laugher.
Angels 10, Tigers 0
The Tigers lost their third straight game today and we can point to two distinct causes. First, the offense has really just not gotten anything going over the last few days. Second, Rick Porcello had one of the most hard luck innings you’ll ever see. He faced 11 hitters, gave up 9 hits, 1 walk, and 9 runs, retiring just two batters courtesy of the double play. At first, you wouldn’t really see how that qualifies as hard luck, but the Angels only hit two balls hard. The rest were weakly hit balls that just barely made it through the infield or died on the infield grass. Leyland mercifully pulled him after he surrendered the second hard hit ball, a grand slam to Trout, but it was too late for any justice for Porcello. It certainly wasn’t a great start, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the box score indicates. Luckily for the Tigers, Drew Smyly was excellent in relief. He went 5.2 innings, allowed 4 hits and struck out 7 to really save the bullpen. The Angels and the Tigers both failed to do much else offensively and the game whimpered to its conclusion. You can imagine there will be Smyly versus Porcello speculation in the coming days, but it’s far too early to bail on your early season decisions. I’m a Porcello believer, but even if a change needs to be made eventually, you can’t make that call based on the information you have so far. The Tigers fall to 9-8 after today’s loss and lose their first series since the opening one in Minnesota. They’ll try to salvage one behind Doug Fister tomorrow.
The Moment: Mike Trout ends Porcello’s day with a grand slam to center.
How Was The Game? (April 19, 2013)
Full of missed opportunities.
Angels 8, Tigers 1
I’m not entirely sure how to describe the game in which the Tigers fell to 9-7 on the season, but it goes something like this. Pitchers allowed runners to reach base, but didn’t allow many of them to score. Anibal Sanchez went 6.2 innings, allowed 11 hits, and allowed 3 runs (2 earned). Hanson went 6 innings, allowed 6 hits, and 4 walks, but allowed no runs. The Tigers had a ton of opportunities to score but ended up leaving 20 men on base over the course of the evening. In the 8th inning, the game got away from the Tigers when with the bases loaded, Jackson and Tuiasosopo misplayed a catchable fly ball with two outs. I wouldn’t consider this one a well played game as far as these things go, as both offenses failed to capitalize on chances and both pitching staffs got into a lot of trouble. The Tigers will send Rick Porcello to the hill Saturday on big Fox (read: where I can’t watch them because of stupid blackout rules that end after this season) and will look for their 10th win of the season at 3pm eastern after not scoring over the last 18 innings.
The Moment: Anibal Sanchez avoids being struck in the head by a Pujols line drive and quite literally gets his hat knocked off. In the next inning, he would actually be hit in the arm with a batted ball.
How Was The Game? (April 18, 2013)
The appropriate length!
Mariners 2, Tigers 0
Just 13 hours after taking the second game of the series in 14 innings, the Tigers and Mariners hooked up for the final game of the three game set and runs were just as hard to come by in this one, but they played the standard 9 innings. The only scoring came in the bottom of the 7th as the Mariners worked two runs across against Verlander who was otherwise brilliant over 7 innings, striking out 12 while walking just one. The bats made some hard contact from time to time but never got anything going against the Mariners. At any rate, the Tigers won the series and head to LA 9-6 after winning four straight series. They will send Anibal Sanchez to the hill tomorrow against Mike Trout and the Angels.
The Moment: Endy Chavez makes a diving catch to keep Prince Fielder off the bases in the 9th
How Was The Game? (April 17, 2013)
A thing of beauty.
Tigers 2, Mariners 1 (14 innings)
For my birthday, baseball got me a Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez pitching duel. It was exactly what I wanted. Both were dazzling on Wednesday in Seattle. They each allowed single runs, Felix in the 5th, Scherzer in the 7th, and dominated the rest of the evening. Scherzer went 8, allowed 6 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and struck out 12. Felix, not to be outdone, went 8, allowed 4 hits, 1 run, no walks, and struck out 12. It was a thing of beauty in every way. One of the better pitched games on both sides that you’ll see this season. I said yesterday they could combine for 25 strikeouts, they nearly did, topping out at 24. It was so much fun. Eight innings of magic, and then they handed it off to the children who allowed more baserunners, but no runs until Brayan Pena delivered an RBI groundout in the 14th inning to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Benoit handled the bottom half of the inning and a game that featured 40 strikeouts came to a glorious end at 237am in the east as Torii Hunter gunned down Justin Smoak at the plate via Prince Fielder’s relay to Brayan Pena, who had to withstand a serious collision. There are probably a great many subtle storylines worthy of discussion from this game that is an early contender for Game of the Year, but I’m simply too exhausted to analyze them. I left it all on the couch tonight. Tigers improve to 9-5 and go for the sweep behind Verlander later today.
The Moment: All of it. Just all of it.
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