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 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeThu May 24, 2012 12:00 am

Miscues, missed opportunities doom Tigers

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 5/23/2012 9:55 PM ET

BOX>

CLEVELAND -- For the second straight night, the Tigers had the situations they wanted. Again, the Indians bullpen shut them down, stranding the bases loaded twice before Asdrubal Cabrera's eighth-inning double set up the go-ahead run on a Prince Fielder errant throw home for a 4-2 Tigers loss Wednesday night at Progressive Field.

Quintin Berry's first Major League hit, a bunt double, led off a two-run sixth inning that gave the Tigers the lead in a pitching duel between Doug Fister -- last year's Indians nemesis after his July trade from Seattle -- and Zach McAllister. However, Travis Hafner's two-run homer in the bottom of the inning tied it, setting up a tight game for the rest of the night.

The Tigers loaded the bases in the seventh and eighth innings off Cleveland's bullpen. Reliever Joe Smith fell behind on a 3-0 count to Miguel Cabrera, but regrouped after a called strike on the outside corner -- bringing Cabrera back after he began to walk to first -- to escape with a groundout to second.

Cabrera exchanged words with first-base umpire and crew chief Gary Darling after the out, and hitting coach Lloyd McClendon was ejected in the next inning. However, the Tigers had another, better opportunity their next time up.

A Jason Kipnis error and back-to-back singles from Delmon Young and Brennan Boesch gave the Tigers another bases-loaded opportunity with nobody out in the eighth against Indians setup man Vinnie Pestano. He struck out Jhonny Peralta on three sliders for the first out, then induced a Ramon Santiago grounder that gave first baseman Casey Kotchman enough time to throw home and retire Fielder.

Once Pestano spotted a full-count offering on the outside corner to get pinch-hitter Alex Avila looking, Cleveland hurlers had stranded 10 Tigers on base for the night. They were rewarded after Kipnis' one-out infield single and Cabrera's double into the left-field corner put runners at second and third against Phil Coke in the eighth.

Hafner hit a ground ball to first that Fielder charged for a potential play at the plate. His throw, however, bounced in the dirt and past Avila for an error. Without the out, the Indians also still had the sacrifice-fly opportunity, which they promptly converted on Carlos Santana's fly ball to center.

Chris Perez pitched the ninth for his 15th save, sending the Tigers five games behind the Tribe in the American League Central. They'll try to avoid a series sweep Thursday afternoon with Justin Verlander on the mound.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeThu May 24, 2012 7:00 pm

Missed chances hurt Tigers in loss to Indians

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 5/24/2012 2:49 PM ET

BOX>

CLEVELAND -- For the second year in a row, the Indians swept the Tigers out of town in Detroit's first stop at Progressive Field. As a result, the Tigers again have some ground to make up in the American League Central if they're going to contend.

After three games of close contests and scoring opportunities, the Tigers never found the breakout rally they needed. On Thursday, that cost them an opportunity to salvage a win with another strong outing from Justin Verlander, taking a 2-1 loss that dropped them six games back in the AL Central.

It's the Tigers' largest deficit in the division since they were eight games back on the heels of their sweep here at the end of last April. That was also the last time they were four games under .500, another mark they reached on Thursday.

Verlander (5-2) wasn't as dominant as he was in his no-hit bid last Saturday, but he wasn't far off. He gave up a 454-foot home run to Shin-Soo Choo on his third pitch of the game but retired 11 of the next 12 batters before Michael Brantley blooped a two-out single into right field in the fourth.

That resulted in the deciding run thanks to a lack of of run manufacturing Detroit isn't accustomed to. Brantley took off on Verlander's next pitch and stole second base. Verlander then fell behind Jose Lopez but evened the count at 2-2 before firing a 99-mph fastball.

Lopez got just enough of it for a soft line drive to right, turning Brantley's steal into a go-ahead run that stood up thanks to Indians starter Justin Masterson (2-3) and some missed opportunities from Detroit's offense.

Detroit converted Quintin Berry's leadoff double in the third into a run thanks to back-to-back groundouts, giving the Tigers their run without a multihit inning or a home run since last Wednesday. But Masterson stranded two runners in the first and seventh innings, the latter after Andy Dirks could not get down a sacrifice bunt to create a sacrifice fly opportunity for Miguel Cabrera.

A leadoff double from Brennan Boesch in the second inning turned into an out at the plate when Alex Avila hit a sharp grounder to third, leaving Boesch with little choice but to try to charge home. A good drive from Delmon Young in the opening inning came up short in the depths of right-center field thanks to a running catch from Brantley.

Verlander went the distance for Detroit, giving up the two runs on six hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. The last strikeout came after pitches of 100 mph and 101 mph to Jason Kipnis.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSat May 26, 2012 1:52 am

Tigers lineup comes together to down Twins

By Joe Kieser / Special to MLB.com | 5/25/2012 11:40 PM ET

BOX>

MINNEAPOLIS -- The first inning of Detroit's game with the Twins on Friday was typical of how the season has gone for the Tigers thus far, but the second inning was how the Tigers would like the season to go the rest of the way.

The Tigers' bats came alive in Detroit's 10-6 victory over the Twins. After scoring a total of six runs in three straight losses to Cleveland, the Tigers had seven runs after five innings against Minnesota.

In the second inning, Detroit scored four runs on five hits to erase an early 2-0 deficit.

Brennan Boesch and Alex Avila each collected doubles with runners in scoring position off Twins starter Anthony Swarzak. Both Boesch and Avila each had two doubles, while Avila was the main run producer, driving in a total of three. Detroit would add two more runs in the top of the fourth to chase Swarzak from the game. Boesch and Prince Fielder added three hits and each collected two RBIs.

Friday's run total for Detroit was the most since a 10-8 victory over Chicago May 15.

Drew Smyly threw 48 pitches in his first two innings of work, but got important outs when he needed, settled down and retired nine out of the next 10 batters he faced before leaving after five innings of work, giving way to reliever Brayan Villarreal.

Smyly threw 93 pitches, gave up four runs, three of which were earned, struck out two and walked two to earn the victory.

Despite getting the win, the Tigers were sloppy in the field. Detroit made just two official errors, but botched double plays, made errant pick-off attempts and bad throws. Two of Minnesota's six runs were unearned.

Joe Kieser is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSat May 26, 2012 7:35 pm

Tigers hit parade continues in win

By Joe Kieser / Special to MLB.com | 5/26/2012 7:22 PM ET


BOX>

MINNEAPOLIS -- The only thing that put a damper on the Tigers hitting display on Saturday at Target Field was the rain. Detroit had six runs and 11 hits before a second rain delay cooled things off in the bottom of the sixth inning. But the rain did not erase a Detroit victory, it only delayed it.

Detroit's hitting woes will not be a topic of conversation any longer if it keeps hitting the way it has on Friday and Saturday, as the Tigers pounded Twins pitching for a second consecutive day in earning a 6-3 victory.

Once again, Detroit hitters drove a Minnesota pitcher from the game in less than five innings, and the Tigers put up four runs in one inning.

"It was an interesting game with the rain delay," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "There were a lot of nice hits today. We came out and swung the bats pretty good again, we were ready to play."

The big blow came with one out in the top of the fifth, when six consecutive Detroit batters collected hits off of Carl Pavano, putting up four runs to break a 2-2 tie. All of the hits were singles, with the exception of an Andy Dirks double.

The Tigers offense was crisp early, as Dirks, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder collected three consecutive hits in the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead.

Pavano said the Detroit lineup is just too good when you are not hitting your spots, something he said he did not do well in the first or fifth innings.

"I got us out on the wrong foot, giving up two runs. I've pitched against these guys enough to know they're aggressive. There was a stretch in the middle where I made some good pitches and got some outs, but that inning, it's just a game of inches. I looked back at the film and some of them got too much plate even though they were ground balls. So I could've done a better job in that inning, and I didn't do that."

Fielder collected four more hits, to go along with his three yesterday, giving him seven hits in his first nine plate appearances in the series. Dirks had a nice day at the plate too, as he accounted for two doubles.

"He's starting to get it going, I knew he would. He's got too good of a track record," Leyland said about Fielder.

Detroit starter Max Scherzer allowed two runs after facing the first five Minnesota batters, but zoned in after that to retire the next 13 hitters he faced, before the Twins bunched some hits together and the rain began to pour in the bottom of the sixth.

Scherzer's key to success was even though the Twins got some hits and runs off him, he didn't give them any extra base runners. "I didn't walk anybody. That's always a recipe for success. You don't make mistakes like that and give them extra runners. I am more happy about that than anything about this start."

Unfortunately, the delay meant the end of Scherzer's day, as he left after 5 1/3 innings of work with runners on the corners in the sixth inning before action was halted. Octavio Dotel took over for Scherzer and shut down the Twins rally in the sixth, and closed out the seventh, as he struck out four of the five batters he faced on 20 pitches.

Scherzer and Dotel teamed to strikeout 13 Minnesota batters, and Detroit pitchers struck out 16 Twins in all.

Scherzer said he wanted to return after the rain delay, but it was not his decision to make. "I always want to go back out, you have to have that mentality. I was ready to go out, but [Leyland] is the manager, he makes those decisions," Scherzer said.

Leyland said the rain delay only reduced the number of batters Scherzer would've faced by one, as he was due to face right-handed hitter Josh Willingham next and left-hander Justin Morneau after that in the sixth.

"I made a decision, 80 pitches this early in the season. He wasn't going to face Morneau any way. I just wasn't going to put Scherzer back in there," Leyland said.

Scherzer did allow two home runs, but also struck out nine Minnesota batters on his way to earning his fourth victory of the season.

Two separate rain delays put a stop to the action for a total of 63 minutes.

Joe Kieser is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSun May 27, 2012 10:52 pm

Miggy's blast in ninth seals sweep of Twins

By Joe Kieser / Special to MLB.com | 5/27/2012 6:44 PM ET

BOX>

MINNEAPOLIS -- As they had done in the previous two games of the series with the Twins, the Tigers scored early in Sunday's finale, but it was some late heroics that carried the day in earning a sweep over the Twins.

With the Tigers trailing, 3-2, in the top of the ninth inning, Miguel Cabrera connected on a two-run homer to dead center field off Twins closer Matt Capps to give Detroit a 4-3 victory.


Capps said he was trying to go inside on Cabrera, whom he had down 0-2 in the count, but his next pitch caught too much of the plate.

"I faced [Cabrera] last night and he beat me offspeed away, so we were trying to go hard in. I didn't get it in there as well as I needed to," Capps said.

The Tigers were in danger of wondering what might've been before the Cabrera homer, as they continually failed to capitalize on scoring chances, leaving 10 men on base.

Detroit left the bases loaded twice, once when Don Kelly bounced into a double play in the fourth inning and another time when Brennan Boesch struck out in the fifth.

"I was having nightmares during that game, leaving those guys on out there," manager Jim Leyland said. "We came through finally. We just left too many guys, not very good situational hitting, but we ended up getting through it and ended up getting a big win."

The Twins didn't do a good job of situational hitting, either, as they stranded 11 runners on base.

"We had some chances there at the end," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We had some right guys up there but it just didn't work out for us. It's one of those knock the wind out of your sails [games]. So we're a little frustrated in the clubhouse."

Before the Cabrera blast, a bright spot for the Tigers was the continued hot hitting from Prince Fielder and Quintin Berry. Fielder collected five consecutive hits at one point in the series and Berry produced three hits Sunday. Berry has a hit in his first five games at the Major League level, a feat that hasn't been accomplished by a Detroit player since at least 1918.

Berry did it in the field, too, preserving a one-run deficit with a spectacular catch in the eighth inning. With a runner on third and two outs, Twins infielder Jamey Carroll drove a ball to center over the head of Berry, who was playing shallow. Berry raced back and dove backward, fully extended, to make the grab.

"He made a great catch that probably saved the game," Leyland said. "I know he can run, he slaps the ball around pretty good. He can create some stuff for you. He's exciting."

Fielder was an incredible 9-for-12 in the series and reached base eight consecutive times at one point, increasing his average to .317 this season. Berry is now hitting .381.

The Cabrera homer made up for an earlier play in which the Detroit All-Star got caught napping on the basepaths.

After producing a run-scoring single in the first inning, Cabrera was a little lackadaisical returning to first base as the ball was coming back to the infield. Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla took the ball, came up behind Cabrera and tagged his back before Cabrera could put his foot on first base.

Tigers starter Rick Porcello was not razor sharp on the mound, but pitched well enough to give Detroit a chance to win -- despite being visited by the Detroit trainer and Leyland three separate times for potential health reasons.

"Anybody could see I wasn't as sharp as I wanted to be again, but I was able to scratch through six innings, limiting them to three runs," Porcello said. "I have to look at that in a positive manner, we won the game, it was a great win for us."

Early in the game, Porcello came off the mound awkwardly after throwing a pitch, which facilitated the first visit from the training staff. In the third inning, he was visited again after Joe Mauer smashed a line drive off his leg, and one more time in the fourth when he dove headfirst toward first base on a putout of Fielder.

"It was kind of a weird game to be honest, a couple of freaky things going on, but we got through it and got the sweep," Leyland said.

After the game, Porcello said his leg was a little sore and bruised where the liner hit him, but that he should be fine moving forward.

Joe Kieser is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeMon May 28, 2012 8:10 pm

Fister yields six runs in ejection-marred loss

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 5/28/2012 4:30 PM ET


BOX>

BOSTON -- The Tigers' road trip of disagreement resumed Monday at Fenway Park. Unlike their arguments last week in Cleveland, however, they didn't have a close game by the time it was over.

Doug Fister was working a tie game when he thought he had racked up an inning-ending strikeout of Mike Aviles. By the time the inning actually ended, Aviles, Daniel Nava and Dustin Pedroia all had two-out RBI hits.

It wasn't the reason for the Tigers' 7-4 loss to the Red Sox on a Memorial Day matinee, not when Fister had one of his roughest outings with Detroit and the offense continued to struggle against left-handed pitchers. By game's end, it was more of a mood-setter.


Fister's six earned runs matched his total from his previous five starts this season and ranked as one of his two highest outputs given up since his trade to the Tigers last July, as did his 11 hits allowed. He threw strikes, but more hittable ones than usual, and he was hurt by at least three hits after 0-2 counts.

That said, he would've escaped half that damage if not for his 0-2 pitch in question to Aviles, who seemingly had swung and missed at a curveball.
Home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson initially said Aviles struck out, but first-base umpire Bill Welke overruled the call, saying Aviles had tipped it into the dirt. Replays showed Aviles had missed the pitch and catcher Gerald Laird caught it.

Aviles' RBI single came two pitches later, scoring Mike Sweeney to pull Boston in front at 2-1. The next two RBI hits after that -- Nava's double off the center-field fence and Pedroia's single off Prince Fielder's glove at first -- turned out to have more of an impact in the outcome.

Before Jarrod Saltalamacchia added a third-inning solo homer off Fister, manager Jim Leyland and third-base coach Gene Lamont were gone before the frame began, having been ejected for arguing. Of greater impact, however, the Tigers' offense that had produced timely runs in Minnesota never got started.

The Tigers have struggled to hit left-handed pitchers, a vast difference over past seasons, and Felix Doubront continued the trend. Solo homers from Delmon Young and Laird comprised all the scoring damage off Doubront, who kept Detroit's other right-handed hitters contained.

Before the game, Leyland had said that Detroit need a spark from Ryan Raburn and Jhonny Peralta to get its offense going. Peralta hit a two-run homer in the ninth while Raburn struck out three times.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeWed May 30, 2012 2:20 am

Verlander betrayed by 100-mph fastball
Ace allows season-high five earned runs, 10 hits in loss to Boston

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 5/29/2012 11:14 PM ET

BOX>

BOSTON -- Five days ago, Justin Verlander threw 100-mph fastballs in the eighth and turned in an inning to remember in defeat in Cleveland. On Tuesday, he threw a 100-mph payoff pitch in the fourth inning that cost him.

It was a full-count delivery with two outs and the bases loaded in a one-run game, and it was Verlander's best pitch under the circumstances. If the Tigers' ace was going to give up the lead, he was going to make Daniel Nava swing the bat and make contact. Nava sent the payoff pitch into left field off the Green Monster to clear the bases, and in the process sent Verlander on his way to his first five earned-run outing since the end of last season for a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

It was a vastly different outing for Verlander than his last time out, but it was same result. Together, they marked the first set of back-to-back losses since April 11-16 of last season. They also provided a reminder that just because Verlander has turned in so many victories after Tigers defeats over the last year and a half doesn't mean he's an automatic.

What Verlander provides is a chance, one the Tigers usually don't have to provide an offensive outburst to convert. They couldn't get more than a run for Verlander last Thursday off Justin Masterson and the Indians' bullpen. They found a couple extra runs Tuesday thanks to Prince Fielder's solo homer and RBI single after a Jhonny Peralta homer.

By then, though, the Red Sox had gotten their big inning off Verlander, whom Boston's hitters forced out of his routine of saving his top fastball for the later innings. By then hitting his top fastball, they ensured he didn't last into the later innings.

The Red Sox put their leadoff hitter on base against Verlander in four consecutive innings starting with David Ortiz's double in the second. Mike Aviles beat out a double-play ball to allow Ortiz to score, but Verlander fanned Nick Punto on three fastballs to keep it at that.

A leadoff walk to Nava in the third inning went for nada when Verlander retired the heart of the Red Sox's lineup from there, though he took an Ortiz comebacker off his leg to do it.

Three singles in the fourth, starting with Kevin Youkilis on an 0-2 changeup leading off the inning, put Verlander in a bind with one out. He had overpowered Punto on fastballs his previous time up, so he hit 98 mph on a 2-0 pitch to jam him into a soft liner to Peralta at shortstop and take away the sacrifice fly opportunity.

Up came Nava, who fouled off a 98-mph fastball before Verlander fired his first triple-digit fastball for ball one. After Verlander missed with a curveball, he hit 99 or better on three straight pitches.

The first at 99 missed for a 3-1 count. Nava swung and missed at the next to run the count full. Having missed with the curve already, Verlander went back to 100. It was a classic example of one of Verlander's favorite phrases: Here it is, hit it.

Nava hit it. It wasn't hard, but he got enough for an opposite-field double.

Verlander lasted six innings for the 53rd consecutive start, continuing the longest such streak by a Major League pitcher since Steve Carlton 30 years ago. However, Verlander gave up five runs for just the third time in his last 63 starts. He allowed 10 hits for the first time in 50 starts since the Twins had that many on Sept. 2, 2010.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeThu May 31, 2012 12:40 am

Tigers edged by Red Sox, skid hits three

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 5/30/2012 10:30 PM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- Drew Smyly had a gem going with a three-run lead before four Red Sox batters and four swings put him behind. By contrast, the Tigers' downfall after they tied the game was the kind of torturous two-out rally that won't sit well with them.

The Tigers were a strike away from taking a tie game into the eighth inning against each of the top three batters in the Red Sox's lineup, but Detroit couldn't halt Boston's rally. Once Adrian Gonzalez sent a two-strike pitch from Phil Coke deep into right field for a go-ahead ground-rule double, the Tigers were on their way to a third straight defeat, this one a 6-4 decision Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

Until that rally, all four Red Sox runs had come in a four-batter span with two outs in the fourth inning off Smyly, who had faced the minimum 11 batters until then. Gonzalez's ground-rule double to right-center set up David Ortiz for a tape-measure drive to straightaway center, then a Kevin Youkilis blooper to right field did the same for Will Middlebrooks, who barely cleared the Green Monster.

That was the extent of the damage off Smyly, who gave up eight hits over six innings with four strikeouts and 86 pitches. He was in line for the loss until Andy Dirks' ground ball down the third-base line extended the seventh for Miguel Cabrera's blooper in front of a diving Gonzalez down the right-field line to score Gerald Laird.

A close call at second base on Alex Avila trying to leg out a leadoff double might well have cost them another run, but the drop on Cabrera's blooper for his fourth hit of the night still had them tied. Once Octavio Dotel struck out the first two batters he faced in the seventh, he seemed poised to keep it a tie ballgame.

Once Daniel Nava escaped a 1-2 count to draw a walk, the rally was on. Dotel nearly ended it by putting Mike Aviles into an 0-2 hole, but Aviles' ground ball on the next pitch got through the left side to bring up Gonzalez and force the relief change.

Enter Coke, a longtime Red Sox nemesis from his younger days with the Yankees. He threw three straight breaking balls to Gonzalez, who fouled off the first two before getting enough of the third to pull it over Brennan Boesch's head into the right-field corner.

Cabrera's four-hit effort paced Detroit's offense. Avila had two hits and a walk.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeFri Jun 01, 2012 12:20 am

2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 7312635726_b12f1747fc_z
Hit and run: Berry sparks Tigers past Red Sox

Leadoff man notches three hits, two steals, fantastic grab in win
By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/1/2012 12:40 AM ET


BOX>

BOSTON -- Don't ask manager Jim Leyland what he's going to do with Quintin Berry once Austin Jackson returns, because he doesn't know. Leyland doesn't even know yet when Jackson's coming back from the disabled list.

Here's what Leyland and the Tigers know: They're a better team right now when Berry is running somewhere, because it means he's using his speed. It's an asset not only the Tigers lack, but most of baseball doesn't have to his degree.

Berry's speed helped turn an otherwise plodding three-hour, 23-minute battle for the Tigers at Fenway Park into a 7-3 win over the Red Sox. It helped turn what could've been a four-game series sweep into a salvaged win, and a potentially disastrous road trip into a 4-6 record.

Detroit's leadoff man didn't do everything; he had a lot of help behind him. But when the Tigers steal three bases for the third time this month after doing so only once last season, and Prince Fielder legs out his second triple since 2010, it's hard to argue Berry doesn't set a tone.

"It's a lot of fun. It's a high-energy piece that I'm allowed to bring to the game and to this team," Berry said. "You see your teammates get fired up when you do certain things, stretch first to third or first to home, steal a bag, everybody's behind you the whole way. It's exciting to have it and be able to help this team out any way I can."

It's an exciting asset that Tigers fans will have the chance to see at home for the first time Friday night. It's a skill the Red Sox will be glad to see out of their park and bothering the Yankees this weekend.

Berry took away what could've been a game-tying hit in the late innings for the Red Sox into a highlight catch in the depths of center field at Fenway. Daniel Nava, who usually struggles against lefties but centered the Phil Coke pitch in the seventh, had to question his luck when he saw it happen.

"He hit that ball real good," Leyland said, "and I wasn't too happy when I saw it go up, but Berry made a good catch."

Coke, who watched Adrian Gonzalez get him for the go-ahead run Wednesday night, thanked Berry on his way out of the clubhouse by mimicking a tip of the hat.

"It hung up there just enough, so I was able to get under it," Berry said. "I knew that wall shoots out there into right-center. It's definitely big out here."

Berry used all of that depth to protect a lead he helped build.

Berry had been an offensive catalyst upon arrival from Triple-A Toledo last week, helping the Tigers sweep the Twins in Minnesota last weekend, but he went 2-for-13 with nine strikeouts through the first three games of this series, including four strikeouts Wednesday.

After that game, he thought about his approach. Berry was 2-for-4 over those three games when he put the ball in play. His solution was to avoid a two-strike situation.

"The last two days, I've been getting behind in the count and struggling a little bit," Berry said, "so I definitely was going to be aggressive early, looking to get my pitch and not miss it."

Berry's first four at-bats totaled seven pitches. After grounding out on the first pitch of the night, he continued a third-inning barrage against Josh Beckett by lashing a 1-0 pitch into the gap in left-center field. The single not only scored Don Kelly, it moved Danny Worth into scoring position for a Brennan Boesch sacrifice fly.

Berry stole second on the first pitch to Boesch and then took off for third on Miguel Cabrera's flyout to center. Fielder rewarded Berry with an RBI single through the middle.

Kelly, Worth and Berry had three straight hits in just six Beckett pitches.

"You're going to have five pitches in a game that you're going to have to make, and I think I made three of them today," Beckett (4-5) said. "And the other two cost me three runs in one inning."

By contrast, Berry was patient in the fifth inning by waiting for a 1-1 pitch to lay down a bunt single in front of third baseman Kevin Youkilis. That, too, was an adjustment after he fouled off the previous pitch.

"[Youkilis] was playing tight on me," Berry said, "and I got ahead in the count and [Beckett] gave me a fastball. I took a pretty good swing on it and I saw Youkilis back up a little bit finally, gave me a little room. So then I decided to drop it down."

Again, Berry stole second on catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, whose second-inning solo homer and third-inning RBI single accounted for two of the three runs off Tigers starter Max Scherzer. Saltalamacchia's throw hit Berry in the arm and rolled, allowing Berry to take third ahead of Cabrera's one-out single for the go-ahead RBI.

Berry credited first-base coach and baserunning coach Tom Brookens for his aggressiveness on the basepaths.

"Me and Brookens went over the tapes earlier on Beckett, seeing how quick his move and how slow he is to the plate, really broke him down a little bit," Berry said. "I was definitely looking to get on base early and steal."

Berry's second three-hit game in five days bumped his hit total to 13 through his first nine Major League games, tied for fifth-highest for a Tigers player since at least 1918.

Scherzer (5-3) wasn't quite as dominant as his previous two starts, in which he had fanned 24 batters in 12 1/3 innings. Still, he retired nine straight batters from the fourth inning through the sixth, getting his hitters back to the plate quickly as they got going off Beckett.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSat Jun 02, 2012 12:35 am

Crosby's debut uneven as Tigers fall to Yanks
Lefty allows six earned runs over 3 1/3 innings in first big league start

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/1/2012 10:40 PM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- Casey Crosby has the potential to become a very good pitcher for the Tigers someday soon, a potential that was on display Friday night in his Major League debut. But while he has the stuff to dominate big league hitters, he doesn't have the polish yet.

While Crosby struck out three Yankees over 3 1/3 innings, he paid for four walks with a five-run second inning, capped by a Curtis Granderson grand slam. CC Sabathia took it from there, with a quality start to end his winless stretch at Comerica Park, sending the Tigers to a 9-4 loss to the Yankees.

Until a couple of days ago, Crosby was slated to pitch Thursday for Triple-A Toledo, where he has been learning in his craft in his second season back from arm problems. He had fanned 16 batters in 15 innings over his previous two starts for the Mud Hens, walking only one.

He started out with that type of stuff Friday, racking up called-third strikes on Granderson and Alex Rodriguez after Derek Jeter singled to lead off the game. After Quintin Berry tripled and scored to give the Tigers the lead in the first, Crosby came back out and walked three of the next four Yankees, throwing seven consecutive balls at one point.

Crosby (0-1) took away the sacrifice-fly opportunity with a first-pitch flyout to left from ninth batter Chris Stewart, then came within a strike of an escape with a 1-2 count on Jeter. After he couldn't get Jeter to offer at a breaking ball, he missed with back-to-back fastballs and walked in a run.

Crosby also extended the inning for Granderson, who once hit a grand slam against the Yankees here at Comerica Park in 2009, his final season as a Tiger. He had a grand slam in each of his first two seasons in Yankee pinstripes, and added his 2012 slam when Crosby challenged him with a fastball.

Jayson Nix's double and run with one out in the fourth inning ended Crosby's night. He gave up six runs on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

That was a big boost for Sabathia (7-2), who had lost his last four starts in Detroit since 2007 thanks in part to six home runs. He gave up a Ramon Santiago homer leading off the third inning, and a two-out RBI single to Prince Fielder, but settled in from there to finish with seven quality innings.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSun Jun 03, 2012 1:21 am

Santos saves Tigers after Miggy sets tone

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/3/2012 1:30 AM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera hit somewhere around 900 feet worth of home runs to put the Tigers ahead.

The Yankees tied it in the ninth inning without a hit -- and without their hitting coach or their manager, for that matter, since both had been ejected.

The third and only available catcher on the roster drove in the winning run with nobody left on the Tigers' injury-depleted bench.

It was that kind of evening at Comerica Park.

"I don't think anybody can say, if they saw that game tonight, that everybody's not fighting their tails off -- because they are," manager Jim Leyland said after the Tigers' 4-3 walk-off win. "We may not be putting on the show they want us to put on, but we're not cheating them."

In Cabrera's case, they're not getting cheated at all. In the case of guys like Santos and Quintin Berry, they're getting surprised.

"Great team win," said Brennan Boesch, who came home on Santos' game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth. "Probably not the easiest one to watch for the skipper and everyone in the dugout and Tigers fans. It was an up-and-down kind of game, but it was a great win, and hopefully it can build some momentum for us."

In the mob scene that followed Santos off the field, Miguel Cabrera raced out of the dugout with two cups of Gatorade and poured them over Santos' head. The way Cabrera hit the ball all night, it probably should've been the other way around.

Cabrera's home runs counted for just two runs total, not nearly enough to win this game alone. Still, when people think about this game, they'll think about that.

Cabrera left quickly after the game ended to see his family, but his teammates spoke plenty for him.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Don Kelly, who provided his own highlight by taking away a Mark Teixeira home run with a catch over the left-field fence in the fourth inning. "I mean, really, you had to be here in the park to see what he did."

Cabrera's first home run traveled farther than the second, hitting the upper level of the center-field ivy off a fourth-inning slider from Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda. The drive traveled an estimated 433 feet, according to the Tigers' distance chart, but 466 feet according to ESPN's Hit Tracker Online.

Berry's RBI single an inning later padded the lead for starter Rick Porcello, whose six innings of one-run ball included runners stranded in scoring position in four innings. Joaquin Benoit stranded two Yankees by retiring Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez in the seventh, but when Rodriguez called a late timeout as Benoit had started his delivery, he tweaked something in his right forearm and sailed a ball to the backstop.

With Benoit out, Nick Swisher's two-out RBI single off Octavio Dotel in the top of the eighth tied it. Cabrera's second home run, this one with two outs off Cory Wade, untied it.

The ball landed in the center-field porch where the television cameras are stationed, where Eric Munson hit an estimated 457-foot drive in 2004.

"It's a 2-1 changeup down; it wasn't a bad pitch at all," Yankees catcher Russell Martin said. "That's impressive. Right there, you really can't do anything except tip your hat to that guy."

Or, as Boesch put it, "That's greatness in his prime, right there."

In the early years of Comerica Park, the Tigers kept a list of how many players had homered into the center-field shrubs. Just a few had done it more than once in their careers. Cabrera was the first to do it twice in a game.

The second one nearly stood up as the difference. Though closer Jose Valverde hit two batters and walked another to load the bases with one out, he nearly escaped. Robinson Cano popped out to short for the second out, and Teixeira had taken one strike and fouled off another to run the count full.

Valverde's payoff pitch in the dirt was anticlimactic, a fourth ball to bring in Dewayne Wise to tie the game. With the bottom half of the order due up, the Tigers seemed ticketed for extra innings.

Boesch was mired in an 0-for-13 slump when his ground ball through the right side started the rally in the bottom of the ninth off losing pitcher David Phelps (1-2). Jhonny Peralta was 0-for-11 before he lined a single into right field, moving Boesch to third.

Even so, the Tigers had their eighth and ninth hitters due up and Ramon Santiago as the lone position player on the bench. Once the Yankees turned to lefty Boone Logan to face Kelly, Leyland played his bench option and hit Santiago.

That ensured Santos would have to hit if his spot came up. The Tigers were not only out of healthy players, they were out of healthy catchers.

That's what Santos wanted.

"When they got Santi 2-0 and I saw [them decide to] walk him, I said, 'OK; I'm going to get it done,'" Santos said. "I mean, I was praying I'd get to the plate. I want that at-bat."

All Santos wanted, he said, was a pitch to get in the air. He passed on Logan's first-pitch slider for strike 1. He went at the 0-1 fastball and got it in the air, forcing Swisher to backpedal in right field as he caught it.

It didn't have Cabrera distance. It had enough.

"It was perfect," Boesch said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSun Jun 03, 2012 5:52 pm

Verlander handed rare third straight loss

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/3/2012 6:45 PM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- The last time Justin Verlander lost three consecutive starts, he ended up leading the American League in losses. That was 2008, when he was still learning to harness his talent as a pitcher. That won't happen this year.

That was the same season the Tigers fell too far back in the AL Central race by late summer to contend at the end, finishing with a disappointing campaign. They're not anywhere near that point yet, even after dropping their seventh series out of nine with Sunday's 5-1 loss to the Yankees. Still, right now, the Tigers are surviving more than they are contending.

Detroit's roster has been sapped by injuries to the point that it had to make a move to get a second player on the bench on Sunday, with Matt Young replacing injured outfielder Andy Dirks. The Tigers' starting catcher, second baseman and center fielder on Sunday all have more plate appearances at Triple-A Toledo than at Detroit so far this year, and the catcher and center fielder are injury replacements.

Verlander is the least of manager Jim Leyland's worries, but he's also the pitcher whose days on the mound give the Tigers the best chance to win. The offense behind Verlander against Yankees starter Phil Hughes, on the other hand, wasn't what Leyland was hoping for.

"Hughes was good, but we knew that ahead of time," Leyland said. "I'm disappointed in the offense today, [and] mostly left-handed hitters. He's been doing the same thing. Left-handed hitters haven't been hitting him."

The last time Hughes pitched a regular-season game at Comerica Park, in 2010, he tossed seven scoreless innings and struck out eight in a winning effort. The year before that, he tossed six scoreless innings on two hits with six strikeouts and won. By contrast, the Tigers roughed him up last year at Yankee Stadium.

Prince Fielder's tape-measure home run on Sunday was the first run Hughes had allowed here in 18 innings since 2007. It was also the only run he allowed in Sunday's complete-game four-hitter.

Brennan Boesch started against Hughes in that 2010 game. He said Hughes was the best he has seen him on Sunday.

"He was throwing inside early in the game, and then later he was throwing everything away," Boesch said. "It was a pretty good game plan for him, and he was ahead of us on adjustments."

Leyland wasn't frustrated about it, he said, but he was disappointed. If there was an emotion in the home clubhouse, it was more frustration.

Verlander seemed foremost among the frustrated, mainly about his own outing.

"It's not always going to be great," Verlander said, "but I've just got to do a better job. Obviously, you know it's going to happen every now and again, but I still don't ever expect it. I'm never happy about it."

Verlander lost a pitchers' duel in Cleveland a week and a half ago and took a beating at Fenway Park on Tuesday. The Yankees continued their recent success off him with a two-run first inning and two big hits after that.

Derek Jeter's leadoff shot was the 27th leadoff homer of his career and his third this season, and Verlander seemingly struggled to recover. He gave up back-to-back walks to Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez, then crossed up catcher Omir Santos on a passed ball that moved Granderson into position to score on a Robinson Cano sacrifice fly.

Verlander used up 26 pitches in the opening inning. Leyland said that a slightly delayed start due to Magglio Ordonez's retirement ceremony might have been a factor. The fact that Santos had never caught Verlander in a game, too, might have played a role, the manager added.

"I'm not worried about him at all," Leyland said. "He's fine. He's absolutely fine. You could see he was definitely out of sync. You can always see it with him."

Verlander didn't cite it.

"The pitches that I practice in the bullpen and the pitches that I always practice weren't, I guess, quite there," Verlander said. "I had to resort to some different things, trying to pitch differently than I normally do, trying to throw the ball over a lot of the plate. And that's a recipe for disaster."

Verlander used a double play to escape damage in the second, but he had to challenge Rodriguez after falling behind, 3-1, in the third. Rodriguez sent the 96-mph fastball off the brick wall behind left-field, an estimated 447-foot drive, for a solo homer.

Granderson's double in the fifth set up one final blow, this one a Cano drive deep to right-center that cleared Quintin Berry after the center fielder seemingly strayed too far in on his route. Cano rolled into third with a triple before Danny Worth's throw to third short-hopped Miguel Cabrera and eluded Verlander, who was late to back up Cabrera behind third base. Once the ball rolled into the home dugout, Cano trotted home.

Verlander lasted 6 1/3 innings, stretching his streak of consecutive starts with at least six innings to 54. He gave up five runs in back-to-back outings, however, for the first time since September 2009.

That coincided with the Tigers' late-season struggles that cost them a division title and a postseason berth. They're not far enough into the season to worry about that right now. It's the overall play that worries the club, as it tries to contend in the first place.

For now, the Tigers are surviving.

"Not good at all," Verlander said of the way they've played so far.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeWed Jun 06, 2012 12:04 am

Tigers fizzle against Ubaldo, Indians
Miggy drives in lone run off Tribe starter; late rally not in cards

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/5/2012 9:48 PM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland tried to take some of the blame off his hitters Tuesday afternoon. It seemed to make little difference when they stepped to the plate Tuesday night.

For the second consecutive game, a pitcher with an ERA over 5.00 coming into Comerica Park held Detroit's talented but inconsistent offense to a lone run. This time, it was Indians ace Ubaldo Jimenez, who limited the Tigers to a run on five hits over 6 2/3 innings to help a trio of RBI triples stand for a 4-2 Detroit loss at Comerica Park.

The Tigers' sixth loss in their last eight games also marked the seventh game in that span in which they were held to four runs or fewer. It came after Leyland shared responsibility for the offensive struggles.

"We know what Jimenez does," Leyland said before the game. "Every player out there will have a report. Every player knows what he's done to him in the past. It's a matter of execution. It's a matter of doing it."

Jimenez executed a well-planned game for his second-best outing in terms of damage and by far his best outing in terms of command. After walking 42 batters over 56 innings heading into the night, he didn't walk a Tigers hitter until his last batter, when Ramon Santiago drew the pass with two outs in the seventh.

Jimenez retired 16 of 17 Tigers from the first inning into the sixth, with Santiago's third-inning bunt single accounting for the lone baserunner in that stretch. He held Detroit scoreless after Miguel Cabrera's first-inning double scored Quintin Berry to put Detroit up first.

Cabrera accounted for two of the five hits off Jimenez. He and Prince Fielder fueled a sixth-inning rally with back-to-back two-out singles, but Jimenez induced Delmon Young to fly out to right on his next pitch.

Some of the issues come from an injury-shortened lineup. Matt Young, just called up from Triple-A Toledo after Andy Dirks went on the disabled list, struck out four times in his first start. Alex Avila went 0-for-2 before leaving with an aggravation of his right hamstring injury.

Still, other issues continue to leave Leyland and others puzzled.

"Right now, the only thing that I take offense to on my own behalf is, it's my responsibility to get the team clicking, and we haven't got it clicking," Leyland said before the game. "And I scratch my head.

"I know there are several reasons why. If you look at the numbers, it explains some things. But I'm still responsible for that. So you have to take your heat. I don't have any problem with that."

Rookie left-hander Drew Smyly took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits over six innings. Three of those runs scored on triples, with another set up by one.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeThu Jun 07, 2012 8:17 pm

Crosby enjoys first win as Tigers tame Tribe
Miggy's homer helps offense back lefty in the series finale

By Anthony Odoardi / MLB.com | 6/7/2012 6:45 PM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- A smile isn't something seen in the Tigers' clubhouse too often as of late. But after picking up his first career victory Thursday afternoon, rookie Casey Crosby wore one from ear to ear.

"It's the best feeling in the world," said Crosby, who was drenched from head to toe after receiving a beer shower from the veterans -- a tradition when a rookie earns his first win -- following the Tigers' 7-5 win over the Indians in the series finale.

The 23-year-old Crosby fired 5 1/3 innings, yielding three runs on five hits and three walks versus Cleveland in his second big league start. Although it wasn't his best outing, it was enough to put the Tigers in position to win, which they did, in front of a sellout crowd of 40,851 at Comerica Park.

After allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings in his debut against the Yankees, Crosby credited Thursday's success to having experienced a few extra days in the Majors.

"I knew what to expect," Crosby said. "When I got up last time I got in and didn't even get to go to the clubhouse at all or the dugout or anything. This time I was a little more familiar with the big leagues."

For the Tigers, the win carried a little bit extra. Entering Thursday's game, Detroit was riding a three-game losing streak and had lost seven of the previous nine contests. In addition, the Tigers were six games under .500 and hadn't been able to defeat the Indians in five previous tries.

Crosby's victory over Cleveland was something Rick Porcello, Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, Drew Smyly and even Justin Verlander had been unable to do this season -- although Crosby got seven runs of support from his offense.

"Even though I got the win, you're not going to expect to get seven runs every outing from the team," Crosby said. "It's great when it does, this team's capable of doing it every night, but you want to help them out as much as you can."

The 6-foot-5 left-hander said he had much better control of his breaking ball, which took him through five innings having allowed one run on an RBI double from Indians third baseman Jose Lopez. However, by that point, Crosby had a six-run lead to work with.

Four of those runs came in the first inning. Prince Fielder, Delmon Young and Don Kelly all had RBI singles and Fielder scored from third base on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.

In the bottom half of the fourth, Brennan Boesch, who manager Jim Leyland moved up to the two-hole in an attempt to wake up his bat, got the green light on a 3-0 pitch and laced an RBI ground-rule double over the center fielder's head.

"If it hadn't worked you'd have been a fool because we got [Miguel] Cabrera on deck," Leyland said of letting Boesch swing away on a 3-0 count. "But we just felt like we got to try to get [Boesch] going, get him a little confidence. And he took a real good hack."

Cabrera stepped up next and lofted a two-run home run into the right-field gate, his 13th of the season, to increase the lead to six.

After Cabrera's homer, the Tigers went hitless in their next 11 at-bats and allowed the Indians to creep back into the game. Cleveland cut the lead to two off relievers Brayan Villarreal and Phil Coke and had the tying runs in scoring position against Joaqiun Benoit in the eighth.

With two outs, Lopez drove a 2-2 fastball to deep center that forced Berry to do a 360 before tracking it down.

"It wasn't that high, so I thought it had a chance to go over his head," manager Manny Acta said. "But, Berry, he's very athletic and fast back there. He can make up ground pretty quick. He recovered pretty good and made the catch. This is a very spacious center field."


It was the last opportunity the Tribe had to tack on runs as Jose Valverde shut the door with a hitless ninth inning to record his 10th save.

"It's all must-win time," Berry said. "It's time to get things rolling. The way we came out today was a good sign for this road trip. We came out swinging and Crosby threw a heck of a game."

Anthony Odoardi is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSat Jun 09, 2012 3:05 am

Tigers fall in 10 after erasing early deficit

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/9/2012 12:25 AM ET

BOX>

CINCINNATI -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland hates the feeling when he calls a squeeze bunt and has to wait and see it executed. Enough what-ifs run through his mind that everything moves in agonizingly slow motion.

The feeling of watching one get executed on him looked just as bad as he talked about Wilson Valdez's 10th-inning pinch-hit safety squeeze that earned the Reds the 6-5 win on Friday at Great American Ball Park. It wasn't just the sudden end. It was everything that built up to it.

The Tigers' first visit ever to Great American Ball Park left them with a familiar result. Yet they haven't had a loss like this during their recent woes.

They've played far worse games than this during their skid of eight losses in their last 11 games. If anything, they had more things go right on their way back from a 4-0 deficit after three innings than they did during their wins over the skid. Yet the ending left them with one of the worst feelings they've had this year.

"I don't know what to say," catcher Gerald Laird. "It's just one of those you have to build off of. I mean, we did a lot of things good tonight -- came back. We played a pretty good, solid baseball game. We made some good plays, turned some double plays. We got some timely hitting. It's one of those games you need to win, but it was tough."

To say they're not trying after a game like this is foolish, considering how they made their way back. To say they're simply not good is overly simplistic, and defeats the first argument. To say they're snakebitten, while it has evidence in all the injuries -- now including right-handed reliever Octavio Dotel with right elbow inflammation -- also sounds like an excuse.

To say they're searching might be better.

"Everybody's grinding," said starter Rick Porcello after one of his most frustrating outings of the year. "But the other teams are fighting, too. It's not just us. Myself and us as a club, we have to find a way to get it done consistently, day in and day out."

Porcello was still beating himself up over the hanging changeup he threw to Joey Votto, whose 429-foot drive off the batting eye in straightaway center field provided a three-run homer with an exclamation point.

It also dictated a pinch-hit move when Porcello's spot in the batting order came up to lead off the sixth. Leyland needed a deeper outing from his starter on a night when he was short in his bullpen. He said before the game that he would not pitch Joaquin Benoit after 42 pitches over the previous two days.

Leyland did not say anything before the game about Dotel, likely hoping to keep his injury quiet for as long as he could. Dotel hadn't pitched in a game since last Saturday against the Yankees, which is when he says he felt elbow pain, but the Tigers hadn't had a late-inning lead for him -- or anybody in their late-inning bullpen -- until Thursday against an Indians lineup with no shortage of lefties.

With Benoit and Dotel out, Leyland made the surprising move to Jose Ortega for his Major League debut with the potential tying run on second base in the eighth inning. However, Todd Frazier's .327 career average against left-handed pitching -- including four homers in 55 at-bats -- suggested going away from Duane Below or Phil Coke.

Leyland didn't want to use Coke unless he had to, because Coke had thrown the previous two days. Once Chris Heisey's infield single put Frazier on third as the potential go-ahead run for Votto, he had no choice.

Coke sat Votto nearly as quickly as he ran in from the bullpen to face him, striking out the former National League MVP on three pitches, mainly breaking balls.

"The last at-bat, I knew we got him with two fastballs," Laird said. "He threw a lot of good [breaking balls]. He threw a good outing. It was just tough that he couldn't get the win."

Coke retired the middle-third of the order in the ninth to send it to extra innings. With closer Jose Valverde and Brayan Villarreal the last relievers standing, Leyland decided to keep riding Coke. Miguel Cairo's line-drive to right rattled around in the outfield corner for a leadoff triple in the 10th, promptly putting him in trouble.

Coke got a ground ball from Ryan Hanigan to keep Cairo at third, but Valdez's slow roller sent the Tigers' infield charging and Leyland's stomach churning like a lunch at Skyline Chili.

"We thought that it was certainly a possibility," Leyland said. "It was more of a safety squeeze, it was not an all-out suicide squeeze. I did not put the pitchout on, obviously. Had I, we probably would not have had the guy, since it was more of a safety squeeze. But we were certainly aware of it."

Fielder scooped the ball rather quickly, but his toss left Laird with no time to tag Cairo as he slid in behind him.

"It hit the grass and kind of died," Laird said. "I mean, I was looking and where I was, he was already by me by the time I reached back. It's a good play, and they executed it right there. It's one of those things where you have to tip your cap. They made a good execution and it worked out for them."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSat Jun 09, 2012 9:28 pm

Fielder delivers big hit after Verlander battles
Ace labors through six innings, dialing up 100-mph heaters

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/9/2012 9:35 PM ET

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CINCINNATI -- Justin Verlander's winless streak stretched to four games Saturday. He didn't particularly care.

The line from Verlander's Saturday afternoon at Great American Ball Park will show six innings of two-run ball on six hits with three walks and nine strikeouts, a good but not great outing for him. The Tigers' 3-2 win over the Reds goes to Brayan Villarreal, the reliever who pitched after Verlander.

That's fine with him, because he knew how badly they needed this game.

"We came through," Verlander said of Prince Fielder's go-ahead RBI single to cap a two-out, eighth-inning rally. "If we're going to be a good ballclub, like I think we will be, we're going to have to win these types, these one-run, 3-2, 2-1 type games. Hopefully today gets us on a roll."

The line will show the 127 pitches he threw for his second-highest pitch count of the season, and how he needed every one of them to last six innings for the 55th consecutive outing. It won't show the 34 foul balls Reds hitters used to prolong their at-bats, six of them on the 12-pitch walk to Brandon Phillips that extended his fifth inning to 37 pitches.

The line won't show the 17 pitches Verlander threw trying to get the third out of the fourth inning after Delmon Young's misplay on a ball in the sun left Joey Votto with a double and Verlander with runners on second and third with nobody out.

It also won't show the eight pitches he threw of at least 100 mph in that inning -- four of them to strike out Jay Bruce and take away a sacrifice-fly opportunity, three of them to Todd Frazier before he connected on a 101-mph fastball. It won't show the look on Verlander's face as Frazier flared the ball into right field for an opposite-field, two-run single and a 2-2 game, nullifying solo home runs from Fielder and Ramon Santiago to open Detroit's lead.

Verlander gets credit for six quality innings. He doesn't necessarily get credit for the kind of innings they were. Manager Jim Leyland will give him credit for it, as will an amazingly large gathering of Tigers fans who made the trip.

When they talk about the heat in this game, it won't be about the 85-degree temperature at first pitch.

"Six innings on some days is one thing, and six innings on another day is another thing. And that's what I mean by another thing," Leyland said. "What you saw today was another thing. That wasn't just a normal six innings. That was an exertion."

That was a throwback outing to Verlander's younger days, when his pitch count would climb like the numbers on a gas pump and he would crank up his fastball early, trying to strike out everyone while hitters fouled back his best pitches. He doesn't like to throw that hard that early anymore. But the way this team has struggled, he wasn't messing around when Chris Heisey's single and Votto's sun-aided double created the Reds' best opportunity.

"I don't like having to do that, simply because it's kind of hard to back it back down," Verlander said. "But I've kind of learned over the years how to do it."

He also wasn't forgetting the second-inning situation when Bruce might have been stealing signs from second base after his one-out double, the only hit off Verlander out of the first 10 batters.

"That's between us and them," Verlander said about the meeting at the mound on a 3-2 pitch with Bruce on second and Ryan Ludwick up in that second inning.

By the time Verlander followed Frazier's game-tying single by striking out Ryan Hanigan in a 10-pitch duel, his pitch count had soared from 46 after three innings to 76 after four. He has those every now and then, but he rarely has them in back-to-back innings, as he did with the 37-pitch fifth.

"We made him work," Bruce said. "We put him on the ropes a couple of times. We couldn't deliver that knockout. He made pitches when he needed to. We couldn't pull it out. We had chances and we didn't capitalize on [them], me in particular a couple of times."

He'd get out of those in his younger days, but he wouldn't last long after them until he learned how to conserve pitches. That's how he became the pitcher he is now.

Had the Tigers rallied in the top of the sixth to bring up Verlander's spot, he would've been out after five innings and 113 pitches. But the Tigers went down in order, and Verlander bargained his way into 15 more pitches from Leyland. He used 14 of them, the last nine to strike out Hanigan.

"We just obviously couldn't go any longer," Leyland said, "but he did a great job of keeping us in there and really pitching through that one inning was tough."

Verlander's pitch count dwarfed Bronson Arroyo's 87 pitches over seven innings of five-hit ball. Aside from the home runs, the only trouble Arroyo encountered was stranding runners on second and third in the fifth inning with an Austin Jackson flyout. For a change, however, the Tigers pounced on the bullpen once Arroyo left.

Lefty Sean Marshall, a friend of Verlander's from their school days in Virginia, was seemingly headed towards an easy inning until Brennan Boesch drove a fly ball off the center-field fence for a two-out double. Marshall intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera to set up the lefty-lefty matchup with Fielder, who was 5-for-23 with 10 strikeouts off Marshall for his career.

Fielder jumped on a first-pitch slider and lofted it through the middle and into shallow center field, soft enough to allow Boesch to beat the throw home. It marked his second go-ahead hit for the Tigers in the eighth inning or later.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeMon Jun 11, 2012 1:31 am

Tigers rise up in eighth to steal win in Cincy
Winning run scores on wild pitch; Jackson homers, plates three

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/10/2012 11:45 PM ET

BOX>

CINCINNATI -- The Tigers had six innings to cover with an injury-depleted bullpen Sunday night once Drew Smyly left with a blister. The Reds had Aroldis Chapman fresh to try for a six-out save with a three-run lead, and they had a home crowd behind him.

Everything suddenly flipped in the eighth inning on national television.

By the time Chapman recorded an out, the Tigers had taken the lead, capped by Austin Jackson's two-run double, jumping on a 99-mph Chapman fastball. And the many Tigers fans who gathered in Cincinnati for the weekend and stuck around for the finale made Great American Ball Park sound more like Comerica Park, cheering the Tigers on their way to a 7-6 comeback victory.


If the Tigers were in need of a spark to reverse their injury-plagued and inconsistent fortunes, this could be it. They'll get an off-day Monday to gather themselves in Chicago after three tight games in the Queen City and recuperate some injured players. One way or another, though, they won't soon forget this game.

Four RBIs from Todd Frazier, who drove in seven of Cincinnati's 14 runs on the series, and solo homers from Zack Cozart and Devin Mesoraco powered the Reds to a 6-2 lead after six innings. That, plus Smyly's early exit, had taken its toll on a bullpen.

Prince Fielder's RBI single whittled the lead to three in a seventh inning that saw Dusty Baker go to his bullpen three different times. Once Ramon Santiago's four-pitch walk and Gerald Laird's bloop single off Logan Ondrusek brought the potential tying run to the plate with nobody out in the eighth, Baker bypassed his remaining relievers and went straight to his closer.

Chapman hadn't pitched since the Pirates beat him with two 10th-inning doubles Thursday night. He was well-rested and aggressive with his 100-mph fastball, but the Tigers were ready.

Pinch-hitter Brennan Boesch, scratched from the starting lineup with a sprained right ankle, turned on a 99-mph heater and grounded it through the right side to load the bases. Matt Young swung and missed at two fastballs before Chapman nicked him with a 1-2 pitch to drive in a run.

Jackson, who just returned from the disabled list Saturday, sent a line drive over Frazier's head at third and just inside the left-field line to score two. A four-pitch walk to Quintin Berry loaded the bases and set up a matchup between Chapman and reigning American League batting champ Miguel Cabrera.

The Tigers didn't need it. A wild pitch sent Young home with the go-ahead run. Chapman retired the middle of the Tigers' lineup from there, but the damage was complete.

Brayan Villarreal picked up the win. Joaquin Benoit preserved the lead in the eighth for Jose Valverde, who picked up his 12th save.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeWed Jun 13, 2012 2:02 am

After rallying, defensive miscues cost Tigers

By Rowan Kavner / MLB.com | 6/13/2012 1:45 AM ET

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CHICAGO -- Two pivotal close calls going against Jhonny Peralta led to the Tigers thwarting their own comeback attempt after the club rallied in the late innings for the second time in as many games in a 4-3 loss to the Cubs on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

Peralta fielded a grounder by Cubs center fielder Tony Campana with two outs in the eighth inning and threw high to second base, pulling Ramon Santiago off the bag to load the bases.

"The first guy hitting, Campana, he's a good runner, so I tried to go to second base," Peralta said. "I saw Santiago a little bit away from the base. I tried to make a good throw."

The Tigers' shortstop committed his second error of the inning on the next play, as Peralta's throw to first base on a grounder by Starlin Castro forced Prince Fielder to lean to his right. It appeared Fielder's foot may have still been on the bag on a bang-bang play, but Castro was ruled safe at first as the Cubs scored the go-ahead run.

Reliever Phil Coke (1-3) took the loss, pitching two innings and allowing just the one unearned run.

"I was pretty confident that Santiago not only beat the runner to the bag, but the throw beat the runner to the bag at second base, and I guess we could go look at the replay and see what it says," Coke said. "I knew for a fact [Castro] was out at first base, because there's no way that [Fielder's] body came off the bag with the ball not in his glove.

"There's no way. He's pushing off of the bag to get to the ball. ... I'm not saying anything ill toward anybody, I want to be very clear about that. It is what it is."

After scoring four runs in the eighth inning on Sunday to win by one run, the Tigers scored three runs on two run-scoring hits off reliever Casey Coleman to tie the game at 3 in the seventh inning on Tuesday.

The inning began on a double by Delmon Young on another close play at second base, where it appeared Darwin Barney may have made the tag.

"I had my back turned and I kind of went right in front of [the umpire's] line of sight and threw myself in front of the bag," Barney said. "It looked like I got him."

A walk by Peralta chased Cubs starter Paul Maholm, who struck out a season-high seven, and brought in Coleman, who allowed an RBI single to pinch-hitter Santiago and a two-run single to Austin Jackson.

"We gave ourselves a chance," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "It's a tough way to lose when they don't hit a ball out of the infield and you lose the game. That's all part of it. [Campana's] got real good speed; he can create some problems for you."

The Tigers managed to get hits off Maholm throughout the game, with singles in the second, third, fourth and sixth innings, but failed to string any together until he left in the seventh.

Fielder and third baseman Miguel Cabrera both hit deep flies against Maholm that were pushed back into the park with the wind blowing in.

"That's Wrigley Field," Leyland said. "Some days it blows out, some days it blows in. Thursday afternoon it could be blowing out. That's part of the game."

Tigers starter Max Scherzer kept the game within striking distance, allowing three runs and fanning eight in six innings. He said it was difficult to helplessly watch the eighth inning unfold.

"The umpires have a tough job," Scherzer said. "We're asking them to be perfect. I wish there was a way we could have review, I wish there was a way something like that could be corrected. That's an extremely tough call."

Scherzer struggled with his command at times, walking five, including one intentionally. The three Cubs who scored in the first six innings all reached base via walks. Scherzer had allowed more than three walks only one other time this season.

"For the most part, I was working both sides of the plate," Scherzer said. "I walked too many batters there, besides the intentional walk. My job is to not give those free passes out. Other than that, I thought I was attacking the zone."

The loss snapped Detroit's seven-game winning streak against the Cubs and dropped the Tigers to 4-3 in Interleague Play this season.

Rowan Kavner is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeThu Jun 14, 2012 2:10 am

Tigers ride four-run sixth to comeback victory
Boesch 4-for-5 with homer, Peralta triple shy of cycle at Wrigley

By Rowan Kavner / MLB.com | 6/14/2012 12:46 AM ET

BOX>


CHICAGO -- No lead seems insurmountable for a Detroit offense that's scored at least three runs in an inning to tie or take the lead late in each of its last three games.

Detroit's comeback Wednesday night in an 8-4 victory marked redemption for shortstop Jhonny Peralta, whose two errors on close calls Tuesday night ended the Tigers' hopes for a come-from-behind attempt.

Peralta went 3-for-4 and finished a home run short of the cycle, knocking in two runs on a game-tying double as part of a four-run sixth inning for the Tigers, who trailed 4-1 entering the frame.

"He's a professional," right fielder Brennan Boesch said of Peralta. "He put it behind him. We even talked about it, yesterday was yesterday, and he came out and had a huge game for us."

Peralta's day at the plate could only be surpassed by Boesch's stellar hitting performance. The right fielder finished 4-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs, increasing his hitting streak to six games.

Boesch is hitting .252, after finishing May with a .238 batting average. He already has three multihit games in June, after just five in all of May. "There's ups and downs in a season," Boesch said. "My start happened to not be the way I wanted, but I never panicked and worked hard and I'm continuing to work hard. It's a long season. You continue to keep going."

Detroit couldn't get much going off Cubs starter Matt Garza in the early innings. Boesch's single in the sixth marked Detroit's first hit since his single in the third.

The sixth-inning single sparked the four-run rally for the Tigers, after Miguel Cabrera followed with a grounder that was booted by Cubs third baseman Joe Mather.

"I just missed it," Mather said. "I think it was the turning point in the game. Garza got out of trouble right there -- he was in a little bit of trouble and he got out of it. I feel bad that's what started it all."

An RBI single by Delmon Young scored Boesch and put Detroit's second run on the board. Following Peralta's game-tying double, catcher Gerald Laird then laid down a bunt single down the third-base line.

"That's playing the game the way you're supposed to play the game," Leyland said. "You take something, you see it, it's available, you take it. That was huge."

Peralta scored the go-ahead run when second baseman Ramon Santiago sent a scorching grounder back to Cubs starter Matt Garza, whose only play was to first base.

"We're not giving up," Boesch said. "We're scratching and clawing for every win. That builds a lot of character in this clubhouse."

Boesch added a solo home run in the seventh on an 0-2 pitch, the first time he'd hit a homer on that count in his career. He notched his fourth hit of the game with an RBI single in the eighth.

Boesch also contributed defensively, robbing the Cubs' David DeJesus of extra bases with a diving snag to his right in the seventh.

Center fielder Austin Jackson added the final defensive gem with a leaping catch against the ivy in left-center field with two runners on in the ninth to end the game.

"You've just got to get used to that," Leyland said. "He's been doing that for a few years since we've had him now."

Detroit pitcher Rick Porcello snapped a six-start winless skid by recording his first win (4-4) since May 6 in his first career start at Wrigley Field.

Porcello allowed nine hits, surrendering two runs in both the second and fifth innings.

"The second inning, left a couple pitches up, which they hit hard," Porcello said. "After that, I was able to settle back down."

The bullpen backed him up with four scoreless frames from relievers Brayan Villareal, Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde. Villareal and Benoit allowed no hits and struck out a combined four batters.

Detroit's bullpen has allowed just 19 earned runs in its past 76 innings since May 17.

"I think Benoit's about as good as it gets in that setup role," Leyland said. "He seems to get lost in the shuffle all the time. Nobody ever seems to mention him, but I think quietly he's one of the best in the business at what he does."

If not for late-inning comebacks, the Tigers would have dropped their series against the Reds and would have already lost the series against the Cubs. Instead, Detroit could capture both road series with a win Thursday afternoon.

"It was a good win for us," Leyland said. "Tomorrow's a big game. We won the series in Cincinnati, now we've got to work real hard to try to win the series tomorrow."

Rowan Kavner is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeThu Jun 14, 2012 6:47 pm

Verlander finds groove to get back in win column
Righty improves to 17-2 in Interleague Play with eight solid innings

By Rowan Kavner / MLB.com | 6/14/2012 6:47 PM ET

BOX>

CHICAGO -- Manager Jim Leyland described baseball at Wrigley Field as more of a happening than a game. The audible Detroit fans contributed more than a portion of the largest mid-week attendance ever in a three-game series at Wrigley, loudly cheering the Tigers to their second consecutive road series win.

Even four-time All-Star pitcher Justin Verlander couldn't believe the intensity of the crowd as he began warming up before tossing eight innings to earn his first win since May 18 against Pittsburgh in a 5-3 victory Thursday afternoon.

"The fans were incredible," Verlander said. "I got chills out in the outfield running when I was warming up. I just jogged out to center and back, and they went nuts. The whole outfield bleachers was really loud."

Verlander admitted the Thursday crowd of 42,292 -- the largest of the season at Wrigley Field -- may have fired him up too much before he grounded into a fielder's choice in his first at-bat.

After allowing two runs in the second inning, Verlander settled down on the mound and at the dish. He didn't allow another Cubs player to reach scoring position over the next six innings, and placed down two perfect sacrifice bunts, the second moving Ryan Raburn into scoring position in the seventh inning.

Verlander was content remaining hitless in 22 career Major League at-bats.

"I said, 'I hope I go 0-for-0 with four sac bunts,'" Verlander said. "In reality, it's fun to swing the bat, but I want guys on base and I want our team to have the opportunity to score runs."

That attitude allowed center fielder Austin Jackson to break a 2-2 tie by knocking Raburn in on the next at-bat with an RBI single to left field for his second hit of the game, giving the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish.

Jackson knocked in two essential runs in the ninth inning on his seventh home run of the season to increase the Tigers' lead to 5-2, scoring pinch-hitter Don Kelly, who reached on a triple past a diving Tony Campana in center. The win provided the insurance Detroit needed, as Jose Valverde allowed one run in the ninth inning before striking out Alfonso Soriano to earn his 13th save.

"It's a lot more fun when you have fans cheering you on, when you hear that, 'Let's go, Tigers,' chant on the road," Jackson said. "It's a really good feeling."

The rival chants between the three-game combined total of 124,782 Cubs and Tigers fans continued throughout the series.

"All you had to do was look," Leyland said. "There was so much orange around the ballpark. It was really a neat atmosphere."

Verlander earned his first win in five starts to give the Tigers the series victory. He had suffered a loss in his three previous decisions before Thursday, marking the first three-game losing streak he's had since September 2008.

A trip to Wrigley Field against the last-place Cubs is just what Verlander needed, as he improved to 17-2 in 23 career games Interleague Play.

"You don't take anybody for granted at this level," Verlander said. "They've got a lot of pieces. They've got that little scrappy leadoff guy [Campana]. He gets on base and wreaks havoc. That's the guy, for me, today, that I focused on."

Campana went 0-for-3 off Verlander before doubling and scoring off Valverde.

"My first at-bat, he was throwing it seemed like [batting practice] fastballs, they were like 90 miles an hour," Campana said. "Sometimes you look up at the board and he was throwing 97. Adding and subtracting, that keeps us off balance -- that's good pitching."

The Tigers spotted their starter two runs in the first two innings on RBI doubles by first baseman Prince Fielder and second baseman Raburn. Fielder entered the game hitting .545 with runners in scoring position since May 25.

Detroit grounded into three double plays in the next four innings before taking the lead in the seventh. The most double plays turned against the Tigers this season was four, by Minnesota on May 26.

Raburn made his first appearance at Wrigley Field, joining the club from Triple-A Toledo for the series finale when the Tigers sent pitcher Drew Smyly to the 15-day disabled list. He added an infield single in the seventh inning, scoring the go-ahead run on Jackson's single.

"It's really a good game for your team," Leyland said. "It wasn't like the big guys just carried you this trip. You can't expect them to carry you all the time."

Rowan Kavner is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSat Jun 16, 2012 8:45 pm

Valverde's error opens floodgates in extras

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/16/2012 12:53 AM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- Hours after Tigers manager Jim Leyland talked about his team badly needing a right-handed hitter, the reason behind recalling Ryan Raburn from Triple-A Toledo, they got their share of runs off Rockies lefty Jeff Francis. They didn't get enough, considering it was the Colorado bullpen that gave them fits.

The same could not be said of the Tigers bullpen once closer Jose Valverde entered in the 10th inning. By the time back-to-back home runs from Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Cuddyer off Luis Marte all but sealed the Tigers' 12-4 loss Friday night, the back-and-forth battle that preceded the eight-run 10th was unrecognizable.

"It's a funny game. It was a great game for nine innings," Leyland said.

Once Wilin Rosario's chopper bounced over shortstop Jhonny Peralta's glove and into left field to score two runs, Leyland said, "Really, all heck broke loose."

The one identifiable piece left from the previously tied game was the throwing error on Valverde, whose high-arcing toss to first on Eric Young's sacrifice bunt carried Prince Fielder off the bag. Ironically, it was the only truly wild throw Valverde had all night. The miscue meant that only one of the six runs off Valverde (3-2) were earned.

One was all they needed, the way the Rockies' bullpen shut down Detroit's batters. The rest left little doubt.

By the time Colorado closer Rafael Betancourt finished off the bottom of the 10th in a non-save situation, the chances Detroit had to win it were distant memories. After rookie catcher Bryan Holaday had singled and scored to tie the game in the sixth, the Tigers had the bases loaded on walks and Delmon Young fouling off pitches from Rockies lefty Rex Brothers to keep it alive.

Young battled for nine pitches before chasing a pitch in the dirt to end the threat. Brothers, Matt Belisle (3-2) and Betancourt held Detroit to only one baserunner the rest of the way, retiring 13 of the final 14 Tigers.

Detroit did the same until Valverde.

"They did a great job," Leyland said. "So did our guys. [Duane] Below, [Brayan] Villarreal, [Phil] Coke and [Joaquin] Benoit all did pretty darn good, and their guys did pretty good. That happens. Valverde's been fantastic lately, absolutely fantastic. But we didn't score. We just didn't score enough runs. We're supposed to score more runs than that."

Leyland has mentioned that before. Against left-handed starting pitchers, though, it seems to have particular poignance.

It wasn't long ago that the Tigers would pummel lefties with a lineup that featured Miguel Cabrera batting behind Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen in the mix when healthy, and other right-handed hitters sprinkled in. They spent several years, in fact, looking for productive left-handed hitters to balance out the order.

They have their balance, able to alternate left- and right-handed batters throughout a lineup. However, while they're 23-22 in games started by right-handed pitchers, they're now 7-12 against lefty starters, including 2-5 at home.

The Tigers arguably have their right-handed hitters. Right now, though, they're struggling to get big hits out of the ones behind their All-Stars.

Francis posted a 2.31 ERA against the Tigers in three starts last year in his lone season with the Royals, so he knew how to approach them. A three-run third inning accounted for the bulk of Detroit's runs, with RBI doubles from Austin Jackson and Cabrera ahead of Fielder's run-scoring single.

Back-to-back groundouts from Young and Peralta ended it there. Raburn's double leading off the next inning went unrewarded once Francis worked Holaday into a groundout to third and then, after walking Jackson, getting a called third strike on Brennan Boesch.

"They had some people out there and they're going to have some people out there," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said, "because they're a very solid offensive club."

Holaday did more than his share, with two hits and two runs. His one-out single on an 0-2 pitch in the sixth was the hit that chased Francis from the game. Once a wild pitch and Boesch's groundout scored a run to tie the game again, Francis' line was complete at four runs on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings.

Essentially, Francis and Tigers rookie lefty Casey Crosby dueled to a draw. With Crosby's fourth-inning exit, though, the Tigers' bullpen had more innings to cover. They did their part until the 10th.

Valverde has struggled in the past with tie games in extra innings. And if Leyland had Octavio Dotel or another experienced arm available, he said, he might have used him there. But the way the Tigers bullpen is right now, it was either Valverde or rookies Marte or Luke Putkonen.

"Valverde's been fantastic lately, absolutely fantastic," Leyland said.

It wasn't command that undid the closer. All three hits he allowed came with two strikes, including Rosario's go-ahead single on an 0-2 pitch and Marco Scutaro's RBI single on the same count to chase him.

Once Gonzalez sent Marte's pitch deep to right, the close battle was hard to see.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSat Jun 16, 2012 8:49 pm

Fister dazzles in return, earns first win of season

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/16/2012 8:52 PM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- Jim Leyland looked at the state of his Tigers bullpen Friday night, with Doug Fister set to make his first start in three weeks, and openly worried.

"We've got major problems," the manager said at that point.

Less than 24 hours later, he had six scoreless innings from Fister and three solid innings of relief from Phil Coke and Joaquin Benoit. He had a much brighter outlook, well beyond the 4-1 win over the Rockies on Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 41,800 at Comerica Park.

Leyland can see the injury problems, which had been taking up seven lines of the Tigers' pregame media notes, finally dwindling. He can see the team he was supposed to have finally coming back. It's not there yet, but it's in sight.

"I've never had so many moves in my managerial career as we've had this year," Leyland said. "In and out, there's something going on every day. There's freaking roster moves, getting a guy on, outrighting a guy, I've never been through this [much] in all the years I've managed. ...

"We're not doing real good, but we are doing a pretty good job of weathering the storm. And if we get everybody back, shame on us if we don't do something."

Getting Fister back, and in the form he had last year, could be the biggest return of all. For someone who hadn't pitched in a game in nearly three weeks, and who really hadn't pitched much all season, Fister looked like he was in his old form. He hid the rust well until the sixth inning, but the pitches he threw looked polished.

Fister (1-3) not only earned his first win of the year in seven tries, he may well have saved the Tigers' pitching staff. Three of the six Detroit relievers available -- Luis Marte, Luke Putkonen and just-recalled Thad Weber -- had fewer than 15 innings of Major League work on their resumes. Two others, Coke and Duane Below, are left-handers. Benoit was initially expected to be out, but was available for an inning with Jose Valverde unavailable after his six-run appearance in the 10th inning Friday night.

In other words, Coke and Benoit were the only regulars among their late-inning relief corps who were available. By the time Fister was pulled, the Tigers had a three-run lead to hand over to Coke as he entered to bridge the seventh and eighth innings for Benoit, who gave up a run in the ninth.

Under normal circumstances, Fister could have gone at least another inning. As it was, having missed nearly three weeks, his 82 pitches were enough. His 54 strikes out of them explained a lot about his efficiency.

"For me, it was really just a focus on going out there and executing," Fister said. "That's the kind of execution that I go for every time I go out there and pitch. Let's get these guys to make bad contact within the first three pitches, and if that takes me farther into the game, then it takes me farther into the game."

Other than a fastball in the upper 80s, much as it was at the start of the season, Fister looked about as close to his 2011 season as he did when he blanked Seattle for seven innings on May 7. His curveball, the pitch that became so critical for him down the stretch last year after his trade to Detroit, was heavy and effective, helping him rack up four strikeouts out of the first 10 batters.

"I had never faced him before, so he was new to me," Rockies leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler said. "He had some deception, he throws across his body, so that was a little tough to pick up."

Fister retired Colorado's first 11 batters before Carlos Gonzalez hit a single down the third-base line in the fourth. Miguel Cabrera stopped it with a dive toward the bag, but had no chance at throwing out his fellow Venezuelan superstar.

"It was great seeing Dougie back out there on the mound," Coke said. "For a minute there, I was thinking he was going to do something really special. ... His offspeed and fastball and sinker were ridiculous. He was working guys in and out, top of the zone, bottom of the zone. He was just showing them how to do it. It was fun to watch."

So was their offense, such as it was. While the Tigers struggled to break out their offense against a left-handed starter for the second game in a row, they took what they could get. In Saturday's case, they were handed a couple runs off talented prospect Christian Friedrich.

Miguel Cabrera's first-inning home run, an opposite-field shot for his 14th of the year, was actually the Tigers' lone run-scoring hit. It was, however, the first of two laps around the bases for him. The other was more hectic.

Off the bat, Cabrera's fifth-inning comebacker looked like an out until it bounced off Friedrich's glove. He still had a chance at throwing out Cabrera until he threw wildly to first, sending Cabrera on a mad dash. Once catcher Wilin Rosario tried to throw out Cabrera at third and missed Jordan Pacheco, Cabrera was speeding up again and heading home.

"That's the old Sandlot, Little League home run," Leyland said. "That was fun to see."

Austin Jackson's bases-loaded walk in the fourth, the second of four walks for him, accounted for the other run off Friedrich. Jackson's third-walk and Cabrera's ensuing single set up Prince Fielder's sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeSun Jun 17, 2012 10:50 pm

Scherzer fans 12 as Tigers blank Rox in finale

By Anthony Odoardi / MLB.com | 6/17/2012 7:09 PM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- With two outs in the fourth inning, the rain began pouring down on a sold-out Father's Day crowd of 40,619 at Comerica Park. It delayed the game for 53 minutes, but unfortunately for the Rockies the hiatus wasn't long enough to have Max Scherzer pulled from the game.

Scherzer returned from the delay to complete eight innings and strike out 12 batters as Detroit defeated Colorado, 5-0, to win three straight series for the first time in 2012.

The outing impressed Rockies manager Jim Tracy so much that he had a few new names for the fireballer after the game.

"It just seemed like after we came back out, everything got better," Tracy said. "His fastball got livelier. His slider and changeup were definitely a lot crisper. ... To come back out there and finish eight innings and throw 122 pitches, I think that would connotate a warrior, a stud."

The right-hander was through 3 2/3 innings when the skies opened and the umpires called for the tarp. While the rest of the team retreated to the clubhouse, Scherzer hit the batting cages, where he sat away from his teammates, throwing balls into the net to keep loose.

Manager Jim Leyland said the cutoff for his starter would've been about an hour, although he might've stretched it because of a taxed bullpen. Scherzer, however, said he was coming back out no matter when play resumed."

"I wanted to stay in that game," he said. "Otherwise, I was flipping chairs."

Luckily, the decision never had to be made, as the game started seven minutes prior to Leyland's limit. And from that point, Scherzer cruised.

The right-hander allowed five hits before the rain delay and returned to retire 12 of the final 14 batters he faced. It was only the second time in his career that he went eight-plus innings with double-digits K's -- the only other time come on Sept. 17, 2010.

"When the rain ended, it was nice and humid," he said. "It made even better conditions for me. That's the way I like it."

In the seventh inning, Scherzer allowed a hit to Wil Nieves before striking out the side to notch his 100th K, moving him into a tie for second place in the Majors, three back of Justin Verlander.

As much as he loves piling up the strikeouts, it wasn't the favorite part of his day.

"Something that I take a lot of pride in is filling up the zone, never giving in, never giving the hitters the credit that always comes through on the walks," he said. "For me, to go out there and not allow any walks, that's what allowed me to go eight innings."

Although the Tigers have squandered some quality outings (see: Doug Fister), they backed their pitcher Sunday.

Behind a career-high five hits from Quintin Berry, who started only his second game since Austin Jackson's return from the disabled list on June 9, the team tallied 15 hits.

Berry's five-hit game was also the first of the year for a Tigers hitter and the first since Brennan Boesch did it against the Rangers on June 6, 2011.

"He had a great day," Leyland said. "Line drives, too. I'm not talking about fluke hits. Every one of them was hit hard. ... He laid the bat on the ball. The legs were there, obviously. He gives us a different dimension when he plays."

The 27-year-old outfielder also began the rally in the third inning that broke the game open. Berry singled and came around to score on a ball that Prince Fielder poked into right-center field for an RBI double. Three batters later, Ramon Santiago hit a bases-loaded, two-run single up the middle to extend Detroit's lead to 4-0.

All nine batters came to the plate and, after the delay, it ended the game for Rockies starter Jeremy Guthrie. The Tigers added one more in the sixth when Cabrera doubled to plate Jackson.

Although happy about helping win a third consecutive series, Scherzer said the team isn't letting its guard down, as it's stilling battling back from a sub-.500 record.

"You can never sit here and feel good about yourself, because you've got to play your A-game every single night," Scherzer said. "It's nice to win three series, but we've got to keep it going. We've got to keep churning out the series wins."

Anthony Odoardi is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeWed Jun 20, 2012 12:10 am

Gritty when needed, Verlander provides win
With just three strikeouts, ace manages to hold down Cards

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/20/2012 12:43 AM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- Jim Leyland wants more of a mean streak out of his Tigers. At least once every five games, he doesn't have to look beyond the pitchers' mound for it.

If he's looking for a "dirtball" in terms of a player who can do the little things in a game to make plays, he had his candidates Tuesday night.

Yet in the end, whatever he says about personalities and attitudes, Leyland is looking for wins. And with Tuesday's 6-3 win over the Cardinals at Comerica Park, his team has its first three-game winning streak since its Memorial Day weekend sweep of the Twins, and just its third three-game winning streak since the season-opening homestand.

They'll go into Wednesday with a chance to reach the .500 mark for the first time since May 15. That date also was the last time they were within two games over the division lead until Tuesday, when three straight Tigers wins and three straight White Sox losses put Cleveland in first place and Detroit within sight.

Leyland still couldn't enjoy it, because he had to worry about closer Jose Valverde's health after he injured his wrist warming up in the bottom of the eighth inning, forcing Phil Coke to close out the ninth. But he'll take it.

"You try to win as many games as you can, because that's the only salvation," Leyland said.

It's tough for a pitcher to play the mean role on a team, because they're not everyday players. But as mean streaks go, it's tough to find stronger ones than Justin Verlander in a jam. He has had meaner nights than Tuesday, when he fanned three Cardinals over seven innings. Still, as stinginess in the clutch goes, there might not be any better.

"As a starting pitcher, you can have somebody who competes and [is a jerk] on the mound," Verlander said. "And I think that's me."

It took a while for the Cardinals to get it out of him. He spent most of the night quietly getting through on early contact, retiring 10 straight batters from the first inning through the fourth, with only one strikeout in the bunch.

It wasn't flashy, but it was efficient. His first turn through the Cardinals' lineup lasted just 28 pitches, including 10-pitch innings in the first and second. He came into the sixth inning with just 60 pitches, 42 of them for strikes.

"I was trying to be economical," Verlander said. "That's why you saw a lot of 91-92 [mph fastballs]. My guys gave me a four-, five-run lead. I'm not trying to go out there and strike out anybody. I'm just trying to get some quick innings and allow myself to get deeper in the game and prepare us for the rest of the series."

Verlander didn't really have to turn it up until the seventh. Four Cardinals walks out of his final 10 batters brought it out of him.

"We put a little pressure on him late, but couldn't get the big hit," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We fought him."

Yet when Verlander needed to dial up his fastball to triple digits as the Cards rallied in the seventh, helped in part by Quintin Berry's two-base error in left field, he had it.

Once Allen Craig geared up for the fastball as the potential go-ahead run with the bases loaded in the seventh, Verlander gave him the changeup. When Craig fouled that off, Verlander came back with the slider as Craig swung and missed.

Mean or not, it was nasty.

"One of the best sliders I've thrown. Ever," Verlander said.

The 28-pitch seventh finished Verlander for the night. The runs produced while he was cruising earlier provided the cushion to make him a winner.

Two RBI singles from Delmon Young and a two-run double from Austin Jackson fueled Detroit's outburst off Lance Lynn, whose five runs allowed over five innings marked the worst outing of his breakout 2012 season.

If there was a dirtball in the bunch, though, it was Ramon Santiago, the veteran utility infielder who has taken back the majority share of the starts at second base. When Brennan Boesch and Jhonny Peralta started the second-inning rally with back-to-back singles, Santiago's bunt single loaded the bases.

The goal was to simply advance the runners when Leyland called for it. Santiago, who had struggled with bunts all season, pushed a bunt to third that had David Freese scrambling to the bag and Lynn with nothing more than an off-balance throw.

"He bunted it further than I thought," Freese said. "It's obviously a ball that I have to read better and go get. There's a lot of factors with it, but it's definitely a ball, when you look back on it, that was critical."

Jackson's double came two batters later.

Santiago scored the Tigers' final run in the sixth after taking an 0-2 pitch off his elbow to lead off the inning.

If Leyland wanted role players, he had them. More importantly, he wanted the win.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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PostSubject: Re: 2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS   2012 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS - Page 3 Icon_minitimeWed Jun 20, 2012 11:28 pm

Porcello outdueled as Tigers fall to Cards
Offense falls flat as righty Westbrook spins complete-game effort

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 6/20/2012 11:50 PM ET

BOX>

DETROIT -- Rick Porcello was a freshman in high school in the spring of 2004, when Jake Westbrook crashed the Cleveland rotation in no small part by confounding the Tigers. Porcello had just graduated high school and gone pro into the Tigers' system the summer that Westbrook helped the Indians pass the Tigers for the 2007 American League Central title.

If Porcello needed an example of how a sinkerball pitcher with consistency and some in-game adjustments can shut down a lineup of aggressive hitters, all he had to do was look out from his dugout Wednesday night and watch Westbrook go to work on Detroit in a 3-1 Tigers loss to the Cardinals, his current club.

Essentially, he took a lineup of hitters largely looking to crush him and let them pound the ball into the ground.

"Tonight's one of those nights, really, I just tip my hat to Westbrook," manager Jim Leyland said. "He was terrific."

Porcello couldn't watch much, of course, because he was busy trying to keep pace. He couldn't, and with a couple misplays from the Tigers defense, it wasn't entirely his fault that he didn't. But this might be an example he can look back on.

"Jake's been around for a long time. He's been very successful," Tigers pitching coach Jeff Jones said. "Ricky's a very similar pitcher. I think Ricky's going to be around for a long time also and be very successful."

Statistically, Westbrook had a dominant performance, a complete-game five-hitter with an unearned run, one walk and five strikeouts. The 34-year-old went the distance in a game for the first time in two years, and he did it eight years after tossing 16 innings of two-hit ball over back-to-back outings against the Tigers as an injury fill-in.

Shutting down that Tigers' lineup, with Ivan Rodriguez and Carlos Guillen as its only hitters in their primes, was one thing. Doing something similar to this lineup, with Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, is another, even with the offensive inconsistencies the Tigers have posted all season.

Yet the way the Tigers attacked him became a lesson for a sinkerballer: Sometimes it's less about getting hitters out, than it is setting up hitters to get themselves out. They grounded out 15 times off Westbrook on Wednesday, and they had Austin Jackson's RBI double in the third inning to look back on as one of just two extra-base hits.

"You can't just kind of throw sinkers in there," Westbrook said. "You have to use [their aggressiveness] to your advantage and mix up your pitches to where it's not just center-cut where they can do some damage."

Westbrook's catcher, Yadier Molina, seconded that.

"I noticed that they were chasing everything down and away and inside, too," he said. "When you have a pitcher like Westbrook, where the ball moves a lot, that's an advantage for him."

Good sinkerball pitchers like Westbrook use that. If it was a rarity, then guys like him wouldn't last in the league as long as the good ones do.

"He had a great sinker, and then he went to the cutter and a few breaking balls later in the game," Leyland said. "He's a smart veteran."

It isn't glamorous, but it gets the job done. And if Porcello is going to make it in this league, no matter how others perceive, he's going to have to pitch in that fashion.

Wednesday night wasn't quite that. It was better than he had been lately.

Porcello gave up 10 hits over seven innings of two-run ball. Matt Holliday's sixth-inning double down the left-field line was the only one that went for extra bases, which fittingly set up the go-ahead run. Porcello's 11 ground-ball outs, compared to just two flyouts, stook in stark contrast to his previous two outings at Great American Ball Park and Wrigley Field.

He could live with the singles. So could the Tigers, who hammered home the point about keeping his pitches down on a night when the first-pitch temperature was 92 degrees.

"What we talked about coming into this game was making sure that the majority of your sinkers are from the knees down," Jones said. "That was the big focus tonight. I thought he threw the ball well. He got a lot of ground balls.

"They got some hits. That's a pretty good hitting team. He did exactly what he was supposed to do, keep us in the game. He kept us in for seven innings."

Holliday's double put the eventual go-ahead run on base before Allen Craig's ensuing line-drive single moved him to third with nobody out.

Porcello induced a double-play grounder from Molina, but that was enough to score Holliday. That was pretty much the ballgame, though Jhonny Peralta dropped a Molina line drive for an error to score an unearned insurance run off Brayan Villarreal in the eighth.

On many nights, those sinkers would earn Porcello a victory. The way the Tigers were swinging off Westbrook, though, was a lesson.

"Everything was working," Ramon Santiago said. "His ball got good sink, good movement, he kept it low. He didn't make any mistakes in the middle of the plate."

That's what sinkerballers do. That's what the Tigers hope Porcello eventually does.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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