Games 56 Through 61 of the Detroit Tigers 2013 Season

Tuesday 6/4/13 Tampa Bay-1  Detroit-10                 
Tuesday Detroit started a three game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, in the first game the Tigers sent Anibal Sanchez to the mound and the Rays sent Matt Moore.  Sanchez got the win, his sixth of the season, going seven innings while giving up one run on four hits, one walk and nine strikeouts.  Luke Putkonen and Phil Coke each threw a perfect inning with Coke fanning one.  Moore took the loss for the Rays, his first, to go with eight wins.  Moore went two innings while giving up six runs on seven hits, six walks and one K.  Four Tampa relievers combined to go six innings while giving up four runs on eight hits, one walk and six strikeouts.  Omar Infante and Prince Fielder led the Tigers offense with Infante going 2-4 with a homerun and three RBI’s and Fielder going 3-4 with a homerun and four RBI’s.  Avisail Garcia was 2-4 with one RBI, while Matt Tuiasosopo was 1-2 with a double and one RBI and Don Kelly was 1-1 with an RBI.  Jhonny Peralta was 3-5 while Miguel Cabrera was 2-4 and Victor Martinez had one hit.  The Tigers collected fifteen hits, seven walks and left twelve men on base.                  


Wednesday 6/5/13 Tampa Bay-3  Detroit-0
The second game of the series between the Rays and Tigers was a completely different game then the first game.  Doug Fister took the mound for Detroit getting his third loss of the season.  The game was scoreless going into the ninth inning before the Rays touched Fister for three runs.  Fister went 8-1/3 innings while giving up three runs on seven hits, one walk and four strikeouts.  Drew Smyly finished the game giving up one hit and fanning one.  Alex Cobb got the start for the Rays, going 7-2/3 scoreless innings while giving up five hits, three walks and seven strikeouts but did not earn a decision.  Joel Peralta Struck out the only batter he faced to end the eighth inning and earned his first win of the season when the Rays scored in the ninth.  Former Tiger Fernando Rodney recorded his twelfth save of the season, giving up one hit, one walk and striking out two.  Alex Avila was 2-3 with a double, the only Tiger with more than one hit and the only one to have an extra base hit.  Andy Dirks, Prince Fielder, Omar Infante and Avisail Garcia each had one hit as the Tigers collected six hits, four walks and left nine men on base.                          
   

Thursday 6/6/13 Tampa Bay-2  Detroit-5
The rubber game of the three game series between Detroit and Tampa on Thursday at Comerica Park featured a battle between Max Scherzer and Roberto Hernandez.  Scherzer, who hadn’t lost going into this start, remained perfect, earning his eighth win of the season.  Scherzer went seven innings while giving up one run on four hits, two walks and nine strikeouts.  Joaquin Benoit threw one inning, giving up one run on two hits and one walk.  Jose Valverde earned his seventh save of the season with a perfect ninth inning were he fanned one.  Victor Martinez led the attack for the Tigers going 2-3 with a homerun and three RBI’s.  Miguel Cabrera was 3-4 with one RBI while Avisail Garcia was 1-1 with an RBI.  Prince Fielder and Jhonny Peralta each had two hits, while Alex Avila, Omar Infante and Don Kelly each had one hit.  The Tigers collected thirteen hits, one walk and left eight men on base.    


Friday 6/7/13 Cleveland-5  Detroit-7
After winning the series against the Rays the Tigers welcomed the Cleveland Indians to Comerica for a three game series.  Cleveland was trailing the Tigers by 2-1/2 games coming into the series so it was a very important three games.  The first game saw Detroit send Justin Verlander to the mound to battle against Ubaldo Jimenez, with Verlander coming out on top earning his eighth win of the season.  Verlander went seven innings while giving up three runs on seven hits, two walks and six strikeouts.  Joaquin Benoit threw a perfect eighth inning before yielding the ball to Jose Valverde for the ninth.  Valverde made it interesting giving up two runs on three hits and one strikeout but held on to cement the win.  This victory put the Tigers up by 3-1/2 games over the Indians in the Central Division. 


Saturday 6/8/13 Cleveland-4  Detroit-6
The second game of the important series between the Indians and the Tigers saw the Indians send Carlos Carrasco to the mound and the Tigers Rick Porcello.  Porcello earned the win, his third of the season, going six innings while giving up two runs on three hits, two walks and seven strikeouts.  Luke Putkonen gave up one run, on a homerun in 2/3 innings of work, while Phil Coke threw 1-1/3 perfect innings fanning two.  Jose Valverde earned his eighth save of the season giving up one hit and one walk but striking out two.  This win gave the Tigers a 4-1/2 game lead over the Indians in the Central.             


Sunday 6/9/13 Cleveland-1  Detroit-4
The Tigers were going for the sweep against the Indians at Comerica on Sunday with Justin Masterson taking the mound for Cleveland and newly signed Jose Alvarez, for the Tigers.  Alvarez, who had be called up from Toledo after Anibal Sanchez was scratched with shoulder tightness, would be sent back to Toledo after the game but made a big impression on the coaching staff.  He was the first Tiger’s rookie to earn a victory, go at least six innings and give up three hits and one run or less since 1916.  Alvarez went six innings while giving up one run on three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.  Drew Smyly threw two scoreless innings while giving up two hits and two strikeouts.  Joaquin Benoit earned his third save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning where he gave up one hit and struck out two.  Don Kelly had the big hit of the game, a three run homerun in the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie, it was his only hit of the game.  Alex Avila drove in the other run for the Tigers on a sac fly.  Prince Fielder had two hits, while Andy Dirks, Torii Hunter and Victor Martinez all had one hit.  The Tigers collected six hits, one walk and left six men on base.  The sweep of the Indians put them 5-1/2 games behind the Tigers in the Central Division.   


Upcoming Games:
6/10/13 at Kansas City 8:10(EDT)
6/11/13 at Kansas City 8:10(EDT)
6/12/13 at Kansas City 2:10(EDT)
6/14/13 at Minnesota 8:10(EDT)
6/15/13 at Minnesota 7:15(EDT)
6/16/13 at Minnesota 2:10(EDT)


Cumulative 2013 Stats:

Piching:

	W-L	ERA	G	GS	CG	GF	SH	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WP
J.Alvarez	1-0	1.50	1	1	0	0	0	0	6.00	3	1	1	1	1	7	0
D.Smyly	2-0	1.93	21	0	0	5	0	1	37.10	28	8	8	1	11	39	2
J.Benoit	1-0	2.00	26	0	0	10	0	3	27.00	19	6	6	2	9	31	0
E.Reed	0-0	2.25	2	0	0	2	0	0	4.00	4	1	1	1	0	1	1
L.Putkonen	1-1	2.57	8	0	0	2	0	0	7.00	5	3	2	1	4	6	1
A.Sanchez	6-5	2.65	12	12	1	0	1	0	78.00	66	26	23	3	19	98	2
D.Downs	0-1	3.13	18	0	0	4	0	0	23.00	18	8	8	3	7	27	1
A.Alburquerque	0-1	3.14	15	0	0	3	0	0	14.10	13	5	5	0	13	26	6
M.Scherzer	8-0	3.24	12	12	0	0	0	0	83.10	54	31	30	6	20	100	2
D.Fister	5-3	3.27	12	12	0	0	0	0	77.00	79	33	28	2	12	66	2
J.Verlander	8-4	3.71	13	13	0	0	0	0	80.00	82	35	33	5	26	93	0
J.Ortega	0-2	3.86	11	0	0	5	0	0	11.20	10	5	5	2	6	10	0
J.Valverde	0-1	4.02	16	0	0	15	0	8	15.20	11	7	7	4	5	15	0
R.Porcello	3-3	4.86	12	11	0	1	0	0	63.00	64	35	34	8	13	54	2
P.Coke	0-3	5.30	18	0	0	8	0	1	18.20	16	11	11	1	6	18	1
B.Rondon	0-0	11.57	3	0	0	1	0	0	2.10	5	3	3	0	2	1	0
O.Dotel	0-0	13.50	6	0	0	1	0	0	4.20	10	7	7	0	4	4	0
B.Villarreal	0-2	20.77	7	0	0	3	0	0	4.10	8	10	10	1	8	6	1

Hitting:

BA	SLG	G	AB	R	H	TB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E
D.Fister	.667	.667	12	3	0	2	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
M.Cabrera	.363	.641	61	245	49	89	157	15	1	17	67	36	41	2	0	5
M.Tuiasosopo	.339	.508	32	59	10	20	30	4	0	2	14	14	15	0	0	0
J.Peralta	.338	.493	56	219	31	74	108	16	0	6	26	17	52	2	1	4
T.Hunter	.303	.407	54	231	33	70	94	16	1	2	24	14	40	1	0	1
O.Infante	.296	.418	55	213	31	63	89	10	2	4	21	13	22	2	1	3
A.Garcia	.291	.473	21	55	9	16	26	2	1	2	10	4	10	0	1	0
B.Pena	.289	.398	22	83	9	24	33	3	0	2	11	4	10	0	1	1
P.Fielder	.289	.509	61	232	33	67	118	15	0	12	51	36	53	0	1	2
A.Jackson	.272	.371	34	151	33	41	56	7	1	2	11	14	33	5	0	1
A.Dirks	.249	.358	53	193	26	48	69	4	1	5	19	15	36	5	0	0
V.Martinez	.242	.352	60	227	20	55	80	10	0	5	30	18	30	0	0	0
D.Kelly	.198	.358	44	81	15	16	29	2	1	3	10	14	12	2	0	0
A.Avila	.176	.297	43	148	15	26	44	3	0	5	13	20	52	0	0	1
R.Santiago	.149	.255	18	47	3	7	12	3	1	0	1	4	7	0	0	1

A.Sanchez

.000

.000

12

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

0

0

1

I'm Sorry Torii Hunter.

      Earlier this year I wrote a post saying I thought the signing of Torii Hunter was a big mistake, Mr. Hunter has proven me wrong and I owe him a apology.  Torii Hunter, I'm sorry I doubted you and your abilities, you have proven yourself worthy of wearing the Old English D and I hope this season is a big success for you and the Tigers.
      In that post I said that Hunter's stats weren't that much better then Brennan Boesch's and since Boesch is much younger I thought it would be more prudent to sign the younger player rather then risk signing the older one and finding out his best years are behind him and being stuck with a big contract.  So far this season Hunter is hitting .310 with 12 doubles, one triple, one homerun and 21 RBI's.  He is slugging .409 with 8 walks and 29 strikeouts.  His lack of walks and the large amount of strikeouts were also reasons I gave to oppose the signing but his production has outweighed those concerns.  Hunter is sixth on the Tigers in batting average, tied for first in doubles, third in RBI's and fifth in slugging percentage, pretty good for a guy who will be 38 in July and is playing for his third team.  I knew his defense would be better but I had no idea his offensive contributions would be this big.  Sure he won't hit as many homeruns as he has in the past but with Detroit that is not his job.  In a spring training interview he said that the key to hitting second is moving the lead off guy up and trying to get on base for the big guns behind him.  He said that not having to provide all the production will make his life easier and reduce stress for him.     
      Brennan Boesch on the other hand has been optioned to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after hitting .209 with one double, one triple, two homeruns and five RBI's.  He was slugging .419 with two walks and six strikeouts in 43 at bats for the Yankees.  This, for a team with twelve men on the DL.  Obviously the Yankees didn't think too highly of Boesch's work and his biggest knock while with the Tigers, his lack of hitting, is still an issue.  So it seems that the Tigers made the right choice in letting Boesch go. 
      Apparently I'm still in Randy Smith (Detroit GM from 1996-2002) mode and assume that every trade or signing the Tigers make will fail.  I have to remember that Smith is long gone and Dave Dombrowski is a much better GM.  The trades to pick up Miguel Cabrera, Doug Fister and Austin Jackson and the signing of Hunter and Prince Fielder prove this.  No the Tigers just have to find the missing piece and finally win that elusive World Series Championship, the first since 1984.

Goodbye Brennan Boesch

      Springtime in Florida and Arizona is quite often bittersweet our favorite players in uniform in the sun playing ball.  Unfortunately, not everybody from last year is with the same team this year.  I’m sure Angel’s fans are sad to see Torii Hunter go and Detroit fans are happy to see him arrive but with that arrival has to come the departure of someone else and this year that someone is Brennan Boesch.  Boesch started off his Tigers career with a bang, in 2010 he hit a double off the wall on his first major league pitch.  He was MLB Rookie of the Month for May and June, Tigers Player of the Month for June, topped all AL rookies with 14 homeruns and 67 RBI’s and finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting.  In 2011 he hit .283 with 16 homeruns and 54 RBI’s before being sidelined with a torn ligament in his left hand.  In 2012 his numbers went way down and he finished the season with a .240 average and 12 homeruns and 54 RBI’s.  After the 2012 season the Tigers signed Torii Hunter making Boesch expendable, although Detroit signed Boesch anyway, to a one year deal worth $2.3 million. 
      There was lots of speculation, when Hunter was signed as to Boesch’s fate.  Hunter hit .313 with 16 homers and 92 RBI’s for the Angels in 2012 but had more strikeouts and half as many walks as Boesch.  The reasons given for the signing of Hunter was his defensive play.  The sabremetrics stats used to measure this are: runs saved, defensive replacement value and balls reached.  These stats say that Hunter is a much better defensive right fielder then Boesch and that put another nail in Boesch’s coffin.  The Tigers had been trying to work out a trade for Boesch all spring, but did not get any offers they thought were fair and weren’t prepared to give him away.  With Boesch’s poor performance in Lakeland this year, Detroit had the chance to send Boesch to AAA Toledo without having to clear waivers but in a testament to the depth of the Tigers minor league rosters, the decision was made to give him his outright release.  The decision was made on Thursday because that was the last day Boesch would have been able to be released without the Tigers being on the hook for the whole $2.3 million they had just signed him for.  As it stands Detroit will have to pay him $400,000 and any other Major League team would be able to pick him up without penalty.  I wish Brennan all the luck in the world, he was one of my favorite Tiger players of late, and I hope he catches on with another team, as long as it’s a National League team