Things just don’t seem to go well for the Tigers in LA (or Anaheim). For all the talk of the Tigers struggles in the Metrodome, opportunity for frustration against the Angels always seems to run high. There was this game where people questioned Justin Verlander’s acehood. And this one where Jeremy Bonderman’s arm pretty much disintegrated. Or this one which started bad, got better, and ended miserable. People just don’t remember because the games are on so late.
Tonight it is Dontrelle Willis who will try and, well, do good. The Angels have the second worst run differential in the American League (behind the Red Sox) at –17. They hadn’t won a series until sweeping the Blue Jays this weekend and are now riding a 3 game win streak. Fernando Rodney is their closer.
Joel Pineiro goes for the Angels.Pineiro was actually quite awesome his last time out. He went 7 innings in Yankee stadium and allowed just 1 run on 5 hits with no walks and seven strike outs.
I don’t know that things came any easier today for the Tigers, but the boys did enough to secure a 4-2 win and stave off panic in Detroit. Max Scherzer did his job, the offense did enough, and the bullpen locked it all down.
Scherzer was quite good for the bulk of the day, save for Casey Kotchman being a tough out. Scherzer fanned 4 in 6 innings, and was fairly efficient with 87 pitches and likely could have gone another inning or two. Leyland’s reasons for pulling him were fairly sound though. Kotchman would have been due up in the 7th inning and Scherzer wouldn’t have faced him. In between was Ken Griffey Jr so Leyland went to Phil Coke.
Toledo 6 Indianapolis 9 Casper Wells homered, singled, and walked. Jeff Larish doubled and singled. Ruddy Lugo was knocked around for 3 homers and 7 runs in 4 innings. Robbie Weinhardt followed and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, a walk, and 3 K’s in 1.2 innings.
Altoona 2 Erie 8 Andy Oliver went 6 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks while fanning 3. Brooks Brown went the last 3 innings allowing 1 run on 3 hits. Cale Iorg homered, walked, and stole a base.
Brevard County 2 Lakeland 3 Gustavo Nunez, Rawley Bishop, and Alden Carrithers all had 2 hits. Luke Putkonen picked up 6 K’s in 6.1 innings and allowing just 2 hits and a walk. Matt Hoffman and Lester Oliveros finished what was an 11 K day for the Flying Tigers pitchers.
Great Lakes 5 West Michigan 2 Jamie Johnson doubled twice and pushed his OBP to .435. Alexis Espinoza, Hernan Perez, and Wade Gaynor all had 2 hits. Trevor Feeney was hit pretty hard with 12 hits and and 5 runs in 6.2 innings. He did strike out 6 against only 1 walk though.
PREGAME: The Tigers turn to Max Scherzer to stop their three game slide. Scherzer, like the rest of the rotation has a good start and a shaky start under his belt this year.
Ian Snell takes the bump for the Mariners who would like to sweep the Tigers.
It appears that Justin Verlander seems to have found some of that rhythm that had proven so elusive this season. Unfortunately the Tigers bats couldn’t muster enough against Ryan Rowland-Smith and the Tigers dropped their 3rd game in a row.
Toledo 3 Indianapolis 2
Jeff Larish homered and added 2 walks. Wil Rhymes went 2 for 3 with a walk. Alfredo Figaro pitched 5.1 shut out innings with 3 hits, 1 walk, and 4 strike outs. Daniel Schlereth allowed an unearned run on 2 hits and a walk, but he fanned 3 in 1.2 innings. Jay Sborz picked up his 4th save.
Ben Guez was called up from Lakeland as Clete Thomas hit the 7 day DL with a hamstring injury.
Altoona 5 Erie 6
Thad Weber allowed just 1 hit in 6 innings, but he walked 3 and a run crossed the plate. Max St. Pierre homered twice, including the walk-off winner, and added a single.
Lakeland 4 Clearwater 5
Bryan Pounds went 3 for 4 with a homer. Billy Nowlin and Kody Kaiser each had 2 hits. Charlie Furbush allowed 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks but he struck out 7.
Great Lakes 2 West Michigan 3
Ramon Lebron fanned 5 in 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk. Victor Larez got the 4 inning save. Alexis Espinoza homered and singled. Billy Alvino and Avisail Garcia each had 2 hits.
PREGAME: The Tigers lost consecutive games for the first time this season. Let’s hope they don’t lose consecutive series for the first time this season after tonight’s game goes final.
Justin Verlander is still going for his first win, and his first “ace-like” outing. The Tigers starters were delivered a nasty blow over the last 5 outings and this is an opportunity for one of those “stopper” type outings that folks are so fond of.
He goes up against the hyphenator, Ryan Rowland-Smith. Rowland-Smith has made two starts and notched only two strike outs (with 6 walks). Both of those starts came against the A’s. The Tigers faced him once last year and got to him for 5 runs and chased him in the 6th inning. Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge took him deep.
Raburn finds himself playing right field tonight as Magglio Ordonez gets a turn at DH.
The Tigers have taken two turns through the rotation. The first was largely encouraging. A Max Scherzer 1 run effort and reasons for hope from Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman highlighted the pass with rough but acceptable outings from Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello. This second turn though…oh man.
Using the Baseball Musings Day by Day Database it is easy to see how the starters have fared over the last 5 games and it isn’t pretty. The 12 walks issued over the 5 starts is borderline acceptable. But outside of that it is a matter of picking which number is most troublesome. Is it the 42 hits or the run-an-inning pace or the fact that strikeouts are few and far between? Or do you go with the result of all the ineffectiveness which is a bunch of short outings?
This isn’t rocket science. The starters have to pitch better. All of them. With only 4 of the hits being homers, there is some hope that the BABIP will drop. But the teams that the Tigers have faced (Indians/Royals/Mariners) are far from offensive juggernauts making this all the more concerning.
The third pass through the rotation begins today with Justin Verlander. The Tigers are the only team to not have a starter record an out after the 6th inning. That needs to change and the sooner the better.
Toledo 7 Indianapolis 4 Brent Dlugach went 4 for 5 pushing his season line to 410/425/564. Brennan Boesch and Max Leon each had 2 hit games while Danny Worth went 3 for 4. Enrique Gonzalez allowed 3 runs on 3 walks and 6 hits in 4.1 innings. Scot Drucker got the win pitching 3 innings of relief and allowing 1 run on 2 hits, no walks, and 5 K’s.
Erie – rained out
Lakeland 4 Clearwater 10 Rawley Bishop doubled twice. Brent Wyatt and Gustavo Nunez each had 2 hits as well. Adam Wilk surrendered 6 runs (3 earned) in 5.1 innings on 5 hits and 2 walks with 3 K’s. Tyler Conn was rocked for 4 runs while recording just 1 out in relief.
West Michigan 9 Bowling Green 4 Avisail Garcia and Jordan Lennerton each had 2 hits. Luis Palacious walked twice and doubled. Giovany Soto struggled with his command and walked 5 in 2.2 innings leading to a short outing. Melvin Mercedes allowed just 2 baserunners in 3 innings of work and got the win.
PREGAME: It’s west coast sleepy time baseball. At least the Tigers will have had a chance to get all Phiten’d up and that titanium should be improving their blood flow. Of course going up against Felix Hernandez they can use whatever advantage they can get.
If it weren’t for the ridiculous season by Zach Greinke, King Felix would have likey taken home the Cy Young award. Hernandez has made 2 starts this year, both of the quality variety. Although his 6 walks against the A’s probably wasn’t ideal. The Tigers faced him 3 times last year and they struck out 23 times in 20 innings.
Jeremy Bonderman goes for the Tigers. The rotation has struggled this second time through and it would be wonderful if Bonderman could be the first Tigers starter this season to record an out in the 7th inning.
POSTGAME: One way to look at this game is to think that the chances of the Tigers beating Hernandez weren’t that great, that this was a game they had a pretty good shot of coming out on the losing end anyways. Having said that…there’s losing and there’s getting smoked. The Tigers got smoked and there is very little to take away from this game that was encouraging. Continue reading Game 2010.010: Tigers at Mariners→
Toledo 5 Columbus 3
Armando Galarraga fanned 6 and walked 1, allowing 3 runs in 6.1 innings. Brennan Boesch homered and added 2 walks. Wil Rhymes, Brent Dlugach, Jeff Larish, and Danny Worth all had multi-hit games.
Altoona 13 Erie 5
Andy Dirks trpiled and homered. Wilkin Ramirez singled and homered. Duane Below, Zach Simons, and Jared Gayhart all were hit hard. Below left in the first inning after facing 5 hitters.
Clearwater 1 Lakeland 4
Your biggest rising prospect so far is Brayan Villarreal. He was one of the bubble guys for the 40 man roster this offseason and he just spun his second gem. This time it was 1 walk, 1 hit, and 1 run with 9 K’s in 5.1 innings. Lester Oliveros closed this one out with 2 strikeouts in the 9th. Bryan Pounds went 3 for 4 and Gustavo Nunez added 2 hits.
West Michigan 1 Bowling Green 2
Wade Jaynor had 2 hits. Elvin Soto and Avisail Garcia doubled. Jacob Turner fanned 4 and walked none in 4 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits.
Toledo 2 Columbus 3
Phil Dumatrait allowed 2 runs on 3 walks, 2 strikeouts, and 5 hits in 5.1 innings. Daniel Schlereth struggled and allowed the winning run on 2 hits and 2 walks while only recording 1 out. Jeff Fraizer homered.
Erie 3 Binghamtom 4 (13 innings)
Lots of extra baseball in this one. Jeff Kunkel homered and singled to lead the way offensively.
Lakeland 8 Brevard County 3
Bryan Pounds had a day going 5 for 5. Rawley Bishop, Billy Nowlin, and Alden Carrithers all had multi-hit games. Bishop added 2 walks as well. Mark Sorensen struck out 7 in 5.1 innings and Ramon Garcia record 5 of his 6 outs via the punch-out.
West Michigan 6 Bowling Green 2
Jade Todd allowed both runs on 6 hits and 3 walks in 4 innings. Nolan Cain pitched 2 perfect innings and fanned 3. Mike Gosse led the way with a 3 for 5 night with 2 doubles. Elvin Soto and Hernan Perez hit their first homers.
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up and that titanium should be improving their blood flow. Of course going up against Felix Hernandez they can use whatever advantage they can get.