After last night’s deflating loss, of a type we’ve seen before this season and would rather not see any more of, the Tigers send out RHP Rick Porcello against Angels RHP Garrett Richards. Porcello missed his last start due to an off-day shuffle type thing; instead, he turned in a perfect two innings in what I think was his first regular-season (at least) bullpen appearance ever. Nice. Richards started the season in the bullpen and had a so-so outing in his first start against the Astros a week ago. Porcello looks good in 66 PA against current Angels: .608 vs. .769 career OPS-against and strikeouts at twice his career rate. Richards’s history against current Tigers can be summed up in one 2012 start against them in which he pitched 7 shutout innings.
Today’s “Ah, I see the problem” lineups (note: I think some of the splits were current before last night’s game – see Bourjos):
CF Jackson 333/398/440 RISP .364, 4 RBI
RF Hunter 418/451/597 RISP .214, 6 RBI
3B Cabrera 348/416/493 RISP .455, 14 RBI
1B Fielder 328/427/625 RISP .333, 14 RBI
DH Martinez 196/313/214 RISP .125, 4 RBI
LF Dirks 190/300/214 RISP .273, 4 RBI
SS Peralta 302/333/413 RISP .250, 7 RBI
C Avila 189/218/302 RISP .053, 0 RBI
2B Infante 255/278/255 RISP .267, 4 RBI
CF Bourjos 267/298/489 RISP .000, 1 RBI
LF Trout 293/387/484 RISP .231, 4 RBI
DH Pujols 309/426/491 RISP .300, 7 RBI
RF Hamilton 200/254/367 RISP .143, 5 RBI
1B Trumbo 323/354/468 RISP .167, 4 RBI
2B Kendrick 263/306/368 RISP .182, 4 RBI
C Iannetta 273/333/432 RISP .143, 4 RBI
SS Harris 263/286/474 RISP .000, 1 RBI
3B Jimenez 474/524/632 RISP .333, 0 RBI
POST-GAME: Angels 10, Tigers 0. Two games for the price of one. The first one lasted 1 inning. This was followed by an 8-inning exhibition game that the Angels also won, and despite the 1-0 score it was as boring as a ST game, which it kind of was. The only reason Porcello earns a “Not So Good” is one fat pitch for a slam. His first inning was an unlucky one of historic proportion, at least 6 very cheap hits among the 9 the Angels put up, any one of which for this or that could have been an out and closed the door before Trout put the game away.
Turning point: Angels going to bat in the first inning.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Garrett Richards, Mike Trout
HONORABLE MENTION: Drew Smyly
NOT SO GOOD: Rick Porcello