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

Tigers Spring Training 2013

Is Bruce Rondon ready to be the closer for the Tigers in 2013?  Will Victor Martinez be able to contribute to the Tigers at the level he was before the injury?  Will Torii Hunter work out for Detroit?  These are the big question facing the Tigers as they meet in Lakeland for spring training.  If the answers to all these questions turn out to be yes, then it should be a very successful year for the Tigers.  After the disappointment of last year’s performance in the World Series, being swept by San Francisco, Detroit is looking to make that last step and win their first title since 1984.

      A good closer is one of the big steps in the quest for a title.  Last year Jose Valverde was the closer but lost his job in the post season after two bad outings, including a blown save, and was allowed to go to free agency.  As soon as this was announced all the talk centered around who would replace Papa Grande?  Early indications were that Tigers minor league pitcher of the year Bruce Rondon had the inside edge.  In fact Jim Leyland himself said it was Rondon’s Job to lose.  Let’s take a look at Mr. Rondon was born in Valencia Venezuela he will turn 23 on December 9^th 2013 he stands 6’2” 190lbs he throws and hits right.  He fits the profile of the prototypical closer- High strikeout rates, occasionally unhittable stuff, but mixed in with bouts of wildness.  He has 100+MPH velocity and at least three pitches.  A fastball, a changeup and a slider and, he might be trying to add another one.  Dave Dombrowski said he is a “rare talent” and he also stated he would probably be the closer in 2013.  So the powers that be have blessed Rondo as the closer, it is still to be seen if he can do it.  He started out 2012 at Class A West Michigan and was promoted to AAA Toledo after appearing in the Midwest League All-Star Game, where he struck out two batters both on fastballs over 100 MPH.  Rondon only threw eight innings at Toledo before the end of the season, which is not much of a body of work to look at, but Dombrowski and Leyland must be very sure about him.  If the Tigers have any hope of repeating their trip to the World Series and winning then a solid closer is vital.  Time will tell if Bruce Rondon will be that closer or if the search will continue.

      Another important question for the Tigers going into spring training is the status of Victor Martinez.  How will the injury and the year off effect him?  Martinez had torn his ACL in off-season workouts before the start of spring training in 2012.  He had surgery to repair the tear and was out the entire 2012 season.  The Tigers missed his bat in 2012 and had to rely on Delmon Young to fill the gap.  With the return of Martinez, young became disposable and was allowed to go to free agency.  Young is good but his numbers just don’t compare to V-Mart.  In 2012 Young hit .267 with 18 homeruns, 74 RBI’s, 20 walks and 112 strikeouts.  In 2011 Martinez hit .330 with 12 homers, 103 RBI’s, 46 walks and 51 strikeouts.  Martinez is also a switch hitter rather than just a right handed hitter like Young.  The question becomes; will Martinez be able to make a comeback and play at the level he did on 2011?  If he can make a full recovery and comes even close to the numbers he put up in 2011, then the Tigers will have another significant bat in their lineup.  Right now it looks like it will be Austin Jackson leading off, Torii Hunter hitting second, Miguel Cabrera up third, Prince Fielder in the cleanup spot and Martinez hitting fifth.  I think this should put the fear of god in the hearts of opposing pitchers.  Martinez has had a whole season to recover and work that knee so he should be ready for the start of the 2013 season, although one never knows what might happen, especially with ACLs

      If Rondon lives up to Dombrowski and Leyland’s expectations and Martinez remains healthy and has a decent season and there are no surprises in other areas ie: injuries or poor play then the Tigers should be able to return to the playoffs and maybe even end the long championship drought Detroit has suffered.  Although over a 162 game season who can tell what will happen.  It will be pleasure and hopefully yours to watch and find out.