It was the end of April, Friday night fireworks, presented to you by your Detroit Tigers’ rookies. Actually, it was more like a laser light show featuring the rooks. The three rookies – Austin Jackson, Brennan Boesch, and Scott Sizemore – combined for seven of the team’s 16 hits, five RBIs, and scored four runs in the Tigers’ 10-6 win over the visiting Angels.
In the middle of Austin Jackson’s zillion singles that had him finish April out as the MLB leading hitter (36), Boesch and Sizemore connected on their first career home runs in the Tigers eight run 4th inning. That’s the first time two rookies have hit their first MLB career home runs in the same inning since 2002 when Victor Martinez and Earl-girl Snyder both went deep in the same frame. Sizemore’s was the back end of a back-to-back, following Gerald Laird’s (first career hit?). Brennan Boesch then went semi-oppo later in the inning with the bases loaded for a grandma’s grand salami sandwich. He may have also broken a record for quickest time around the bases – a total of, roughly, 3.2 seconds
The Tigers needed every run the rookies provided, though. Rick Porcello was far from quality, struggling in his fourth straight start. He showed flashes of turning it around, but couldn’t make it through the sixth without running into trouble. After Torii Hunter’s three-run jack in the third inning, Porcello retired the next nine hitters he faced, but earned a trip to the showers after he gave up a pair of hits and a fifth run in the 6th. The bullpen picked him up his second win, though, by finishing out the final 3.2 innings, giving up just one run, and striking out four.
Don’t look now, but the Tigers have won three in a row. Detroit improved to 14-10 to close out the first month of the season, their best April since 2006 when they were 16-9 and went to the World Series. Just saying.
MORE LOOKS AT THE ROOKS:
Austin Jackson was 5-5 (all singles) with a walk, 2 runs, and a stolen base (5). He is hitting an astoudning .364 with a .427 OBP. (For those of you keeping track at home, Curtis Granderson ended April batting .221.) For as busy as people have been talking about Jackson’s strikeouts, more than his impressive hitting start, he now hasn’t struck out in four straight games, dropping his K% to 32% from what was, just five games ago, near 40%. I still suspect that will drop to the 25-28% range.
Sizemore and Boesch were just 2-10 combined, but as I already mentioned, those hits were first career ding dongs. Sizemore ends his first month in the bigs hitting .254 and Boesch, in just a handful of games, finished April at .261.
IT’S THE END OF THE MONTH OR IS IT THAT TIME OF THE MONTH?
Magglio Ordonez left the game with abdominal cramping. He’ll be day-to-day. Maybe Zack Follett can pick him up a tampon, too.
ENDING A MIGGY-SLUMP
A mini-slump for some hitters is going several games, maybe over a week, without a hit (or in Gerald Laird’s case, an entire season). A Miggy-slump is when Miguel Cabrera goes two games without a hit. Just one for his last eleven, Miguel broke out of his Miggy-slump with three hits in five at bats. He ends April with a .344 BA, good for 2nd on the team behind rookie Austin Jackson.
BIG POTATO’S NEARLY BIG ‘O’ ERA
New Tigers closer, Jose Valverde, closed out the 9th inning in 1-2-3 fashion, supplemented with a little dance. He finished April allowing only one earned run in 12 innings, good for a remarkable 0.75 ERA. The only run he allowed was during his second outing, a blown save against the Royals. That means he has a 0.00 ERA in all other situations, which should provide a much different feeling for Tigers fans. Last year’s closer, Fernando Rodney, was pretty putrid in non-save situations.
AROUND THE CENTRAL
The Royals nearly squandered another starter’s dominant performance (Bannister: 7 IP, 1 ER), but somehow plated two runs in the 9th to take a 3-2 decision over the hot Tampa Bay Rays.
Minnesota bounced back from their first series loss of the year (to the, ahem, Tigers) by smoking the hapless Indians, 9-3. They jumped out of the gates by scoring five runs in the first two innings and it was all downhill from there.
A nice fat 54.00 sits in my fantasy team’s ERA column thanks to Matt Thornton’s two runs in just a third of an inning. Those two runs made the difference in the White Sox game in New York, falling 6-4. The ageless Mariano Rivera picked up his 7th save of the season.
End of April standings!
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