How Was The Game? (May 29, 2013)
Very good, and then it totally unraveled.
Pirates 5, Tigers 3
This game can be thought of as a two act play. The first act got rave reviews as the Tigers jumped out to a 3-1 lead thanks to a three run 5th and a great start by Anibal Sanchez (5-5, 71 IP, 2.79 ERA, 1.87 FIP, 3.1 WAR). But in the bottom of the 7th, this would be the start of act two, the Pirates jumped on Sanchez so quickly he didn’t know what hit him.
They got 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk in the inning to chase Sanchez with a final line of 6.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 BB, and 9 K. Now trailing by two the Tigers made a run at a comeback, but ultimately came up short and will need to win tomorrow behind Doug Fister (5-2, 61.2 IP, 3.65 ERA, 2.89 FIP, 1.8 WAR) to split the four game, home and home series, with the Pirates.
The Moment: Cabrera smacks an opposite field bomb in the 5th.
How Was The Game? (May 28, 2013)
Baseball as it should be, with an unfortunate ending.
Pirates 1, Tigers 0
I’ve been banging the Rick Porcello (2-2, 51 IP, 5.29 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 0.7 WAR) drum pretty hard for a long time, and as recently as two weeks ago, and it was so much fun to watch him walk out onto the mound after a rain delay tonight and deliver the best performance of his career. He was brilliant from the start and finished with 8 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB, and 11 K. Only two balls were hit in the air against him all night, both of which were caught. The three hits were groundball singles up the middle. Nothing else of any substance came off the bats of the Pirates hitters and Porcello (as you can see below) continued his march toward his breakout year.
For their part, the Tigers offense made him sweat and didn’t deliver anything, even into the 11th inning, when Neil Walker’s solo HR gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead that would hold.The loss gives the Tigers a 4-2 homestand and a 29-21 record so far on the year as they pack up and head to Pittsburgh to play the second half of the home and home series. Anibal Sanchez (5-4, 64.1 IP, 2.38 ERA, 1.78 FIP, 2.8 WAR) will start game one Wednesday looking to continue his great season and keep his near no-hitter stuff going.
The Moment: Porcello strikes out his 11th batter to set a new career best.
How Was The Game? (May 27, 2013)
A much more typical affair.
Tigers 6, Pirates 5
After three shaky starts in a row, Justin Verlander (6-4, 66 IP, 3.68 ERA, 2.26 FIP, 2.5 WAR) set out to silence the doubters and did a fine job, delivering 7 innings of 3 run baseball that featured 13, yes 13, strikeouts and just 2 walks. The final stat line actually belies Verlander’s dominance as the Pirates grabbed two of their runs at the very end of the game. For most of the contest they were absolutely overmatched, until the fourth trip through the lineup. You can also see here that his fastball velocity matched the typical Verlander style that we came to love with the early ones in the low 90s and the late ones ratcheting up toward 100 (via Pitch F/X classification and velo):
On the other side, the Tigers got runs off three Jhonny Peralta (.341/.392/.500, 138 wRC+, 2.1 WAR) RBI hits, a Brayan Pena bases loaded walk, and a big Victor Martinez double. Benoit allowed two runs in the 8th inning, but also registered his first career pickoff in 805.2 career innings and turned it over to Valverde in the 9th who put the tying run on before getting out of the inning. The Tigers added their 6th win in their last 7 and now stand at 29-20 with Rick Porcello (2-2, 43 IP, 6.28 ERA, 4.53 FIP, 0.3 WAR) on the hill tomorrow looking to sweep the home half of this four game set with the Pirates.
The Moment: Verlander Ks 13 Pirates.
How Was The Game? (May 26, 2013)
A nice clean win.
Tigers 6, Twins 1
On Memorial Day Sunday, the Tigers gave the ball to Max Scherzer (7-0, 68.1 IP, 3.42 ERA, 2.38 FIP, 2.5 WAR) to deliver the series victory against the Twins and he did just that. Scherzer gave the Tigers 6 innings of 1 run baseball mixed with 6 Ks, 3 BB, and just 3 hits to keep the Twins from mounting any offense. Torii Hunter put the Tigers on the board with a first inning opposite field homer and Fielder extended the lead with a 4th inning RBI double. With the score 2-1 in the bottom of the 6th, the Tigers bats came alive as struggling catcher Alex Avila got a bloop RBI single to set up a bases clearing triple from Avi Garcia to put the game out of reach. The win improves the Tigers to 28-20 on the season and gives them 5 wins in their last 6 tries ahead of a 4 game home and home series with the Pittsburgh Pirates starting on Monday. Justin Verlander (5-4, 59 IP, 3.66 ERA, 2.49 FIP, 2.1 WAR) will get the ball in game one, looking to straighten himself out and get back to his early season dominance.
The Moment: Garcia slams a bases loaded triple to left center.
How Was The Game? (May 25, 2013)
A tight one.
Twins 3, Tigers 2
After Sanchez rolled by the Twins last night, it was time for a close game at Comerica Park and the Twins got to Doug Fister (5-2, 61.2 IP, 3.65 ERA, 2.87 FIP, 1.9 WAR) for 3 first inning runs before he shut them down the rest of the way to finish with 7 innings, 8 hits, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, and 8 Ks thanks to better use of his curveball. Hunter doubled in a run in the 5th and Peralta homered in the 6th to close the gap to 3-2 entering the late innings, but the Tigers would get no closer. The loss drops the Tigers to 27-20 on the season, but they will try to take the series tomorrow with Max Scherzer (6-0, 62.1 IP, 3.61 ERA, 2.36 FIP, 2.3 WAR) on the mound.
The Moment: Fister gets a big double play to escape trouble in the 3rd.
How Was The Game? (May 24, 2013)
So close.
Tigers 6, Twins 0
There are two types of no-hitters, the kind you see coming a mile away and the kind that sneak up on you. Verlander is a master of the first, but Anibal Sanchez (5-4, 64.1 IP, 2.38 ERA, 1.75 FIP, 2.9 WAR) nearly delivered the second tonight as he fell two outs short against the Minnesota Twins. He struck out 12 and walked only 3?enroute to his eight career CG. Early on, he seemed ordinary but the stuff slowly started showing up and once he walked off the mound after the fifth inning, I looked up and thought, “Hmmm. No hits?” That doesn’t typically happen for someone like me who is completely engrossed in the game from start to finish, but somehow it snuck up on me. And then there is was. Sanchez was marching toward history. Six innings. Seven. Eight. Cabrera, Infante, and Kelly each backed him with two runs driven in and it was never in doubt. As crowd buzzed more with every pitch, #19 rose to the occasion, willing him to throw the first Tigers no-hitter by someone other than Justin Verlander since Jack Morris in 1984. With the top of the order up in the 9th, Sanchez went to work. Carroll down on strikes. And then Joe Mauer, JOE MAUER, singled back up the box to ruin everyone’s day. He got Willingham on strikes and then Morneau with the same. The win, their fourth straight, improves the Tigers to 27-19 on the year and they will look to win the series tomorrow afternoon behind Doug Fister (5-1, 54.2 IP, 3.62 ERA, 2.75 FIP, 1.7 WAR).
The Moment: Sanchez gets the final out (see above) after loosing the no-no two batters earlier.
How Was The Game? (May 23, 2013)
A team effort.
Tigers 7, Twins 6
You might take a look at Rick Porcello’s (2-2, 43 IP, 6.28 ERA, 4.50 FIP, 0.3 WAR) 4 run 3rd inning and dismiss his performance as poor, but his defense botched a couple of plays and made the whole thing look worse than it was. The gopherball to Willingham is the only pitch he’ll lose sleep over, but he shouldn’t lose too much as his offense came to his rescue in spades. Cabrera homered in the 1st and drove in a third run with an infield hit in the 5th, while the whole team got involved in a 3 run 7th that erased Porcello’s 5 runs and Downs’ 1. In the 8th, Infante reached, Hunter bunted him to second, and Cabrera was IBB’d to set up a Prince Fielder RBI single to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead which would hold up to the scrutiny of the 9th inning. With the win the Tigers move to 26-19 and will turn to Anibal Sanchez (4-4, 55.1 IP, 2.77 ERA, 1.80 FIP, 2.4 WAR) tomorrow night looking for their 4th straight win.
The Moment: Peralta drives in Fielder with a double to left to tie the game.
How Was The Game? (May 22, 2013)
All over the place.
Tigers 11, Indians 7
The Tigers jumped out to a first inning 2-0 lead and then Justin Verlander (4/5-4, 59 IP, 3.66 ERA, 2.47 FIP, 2.1 WAR) gave a run back in each of the first two innings with some help from terrible “non-error” defense from Torii Hunter. But then the Tigers offense came alive with 4 in the 3rd and Verlander looked like he figured something out and shut the Indians down in the 3rd and 4th. In the 5th, the Tigers added 3 more runs and Verlander came out for the bottom half and gave up three more runs. And then the rain came and the game was halted before the inning could be completed. After a 62 minute delay, Verlander came back out to finish the 5th and qualify for a win. Then relief ace Smyly gave up 2 in the 6th to make it 9-7. After a scoreless 7th, the rain came again and we waited another 50 minutes for the 8th inning in which Miguel Cabrera hit a ball to the warning track that Michael Bourn knocked over the fence for a two run homer. The game was exactly as head-shakingly chaotic as the first several sentences of this post and I wrote it that way so you could feel the game in my words. It was one of those baseball games that just wore you down even though your team led the entire way. The win improves the Tigers to 25-19 and gives them a short, two game sweep of the Indians and sends them home to face the Twins behind Rick Porcello (2-2, 38 IP, 5.92 ERA, 4.38 FIP, 0.4 WAR) whom I argue is on his way to a breakout year. It’s unclear for certain what caused Verlander’s odd start, but there are some rumblings of sign stealing, which I can’t really dispute give that nothing else seems to be wrong with him. We’ll have to wait and see where things go from here, but the Tigers got the win and that’s good enough for me on this night. Also, if you missed it, here’s my piece from earlier on Max Scherzer’s dominate performance from Tuesday.
The Moment: Don Kelly scores on a double steal in the 5th.
How Was The Game? (May 21, 2013)
A masterpiece.
Tigers 5, Indians 1
The Tigers began the night trailing the Indians in AL Central and gave the ball to Max Scherzer (6-0, 62.1 IP, 3.61 ERA, 2.34 FIP, 2.3 WAR) to quiet the sizzling Tribe and to straighten out the Tigers staff. He did both with a brilliant performance in which he went 8 innings with 2 hits, 1 R, 1 BB, and 7 K including a string of 22 straight batters retired to end the night. It was the top of the Tigers lineup that did the trick in the 6th with a solo homerun from Dirks (and an RBI single in the 9th!) and a 2 run shot for the scorching hot Miguel Cabrera. It was everything the Tigers needed after a taxing, slugfest of a series in Arlington over the weekend. Scherzer was at his absolute best after the first inning and put the Indians down in order in every inning thereafter. They’ll look to sweep the short series tomorrow night behind Justin Verlander (4-4, 54 IP, 3.17 ERA, 2.46 FIP, 1.9 WAR) who will be in search of a bounce back start after struggling in Texas.
The Moment: Scherzer strikes out Stubbs to end the 8th and finish a string of 22 straight batters retired.
How Was The Game? (May 19, 2013)
Um…ridiculous?
Rangers 11, Tigers 8
Entering the bottom of the 5th inning, the Tigers lead the Rangers 4-1 behind two Miguel Cabrera (.387/.457/.659, 1998 wRC+, 2.8 WAR) homeruns and solid pitching from Doug Fister (5-2, 54.2 IP, 3.62 ERA, 2.74 FIP, 1.7 WAR). Then things just went indiscriminately crazy. I mean it. The Rangers got 4. The Tigers got 3. The Rangers got 4. That was three consecutive half innings. It was 9-7 at that point. Then 11-7, then 11-8 on Cabrera’s third homer. I don’t think it’s necessary to rehash exactly how it happened at each interval other than to say that the offense did its job, but the pitching and defense struggled in different ways at different times. I’m really not even sure if the Tigers were giving the game away or the Rangers were trying to give the game away. There were many runs and Miguel Cabrera did something that has happened just a couple times in history. He hit 3 HR in a game and lost…for a second time. The Tigers drop to 23-19 after dropping 3 of 4 from Texas this weekend after Verlander, Sanchez, and Fister all struggled. The Rangers are a good team and you’d be plenty happy with a split on the road and that just escaped their grasp. The Tigers will get Monday off to reset the bullpen and will turn to Max Scherzer (5-0, 54.1 IP, 3.98 ERA, 2.44 FIP, 1.9 WAR) to get the team on track Tuesday in Cleveland.
The Moment: Cabrera homers…three times.
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