It was a cold, dreary day in Detroit for the Tigers home opener, and so were their bats, but the Tigers got some quality pitching and some help from the hapless Indians defense to bring home a win.
Kid Rick Porcello went 5+ innings, gave up a solo homer in the 2nd inning and another run in the fifth, five hits, two base on balls, and struck out three. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Detroit scored four runs, three of them unearned coming from third basemen, Jhonny Peralta, when he bobbled the ball and then overthrew his first basemen, Andy Marte. If you remember correctly, Jhonn-E Peralta was very kind to the Tigers last year, as well.
After having 12 hits yesterday, the Tigers only had seven today and there were only 14 total. Nine men were left in scoring position and the Tigers failed to bring home a runner on third with less than two outs on a couple of occasions. Magglio Ordonez continued his hot hitting as he went 2-4 with a double and hit the ball that forced Peralta to make that egregious error (though, I’m sure, he had nothing to do with it). Brandon Inge also had two hits and a double raising his young batting average for the season to .313.
COKE
Phil Coke was the beneficiary of some help after leaving runners on. He threw just 11 strikes out of 21 total pitches and if it weren’t for Zumaya inducing a huge double play with two runners on and no outs, he could have been the goat for Porcello’s decision.
TIM ALLEN
Tim Allen threw out the first pitch today and spent an awkward inning in the booth with Mario and Rod. He wouldn’t shut up about their gaudy headsets and was making Rod Allen feel terribly uncomfortable by using the word “sucked” a couple times. I guess Tim Allen and Phil Coke didn’t mix well today. ZING!
LOOKS AT THE ROOKS:
Austin Jackson’s approach at the plate continues to impress. He had a hit, base on balls, and an RBI. Most notably, he stole his first base of his career, and it wasn’t even close.
Scott Sizemore also collected a first career stat: a hit. He singled to center in that fifth inning and scored on Peralta’s error. Also most notably, he is really starting to mesh with Adam Everett up the middle. He turned a fabulous double-play in the 9th inning to end the game.
RALLY TIGER SUIT
This guy wearing a suit made of solely Tiger fur, was interviewed right as the 5th inning began. It was a rally starter — the Tigers went on to score four runs. It was posted again in the 7th inning when the Tigers scored another run. It has officially become D4L’s rally suit. Change your wardrobes accordingly.
AROUND THE CENTRAL
KC was off and Minnesota & Chicago play later. I’ll update later tonight.
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