2009 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

Porcello, Perry hit hard in loss to A's
Rookie starter, reliever each give up a pair of home runs

By Adam Loberstein / MLB.com

08/23/09 6:57 PM ET

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OAKLAND -- Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry haven't looked like rookies in a while.

Porcello, 20, was 1-0 with a 2.21 ERA over 20 1/3 innings in four August starts before Sunday. Perry, 22, had a 2.30 ERA in 12 relief appearances since being recalled on July 18.

On Sunday, both rookies hit a wall.

Each surrendered a pair of home runs -- a three-run homer and a solo shot apiece -- as the Tigers dropped their rubber match with the A's, 9-4.

Detroit maintains its 2 1/2-game lead in the American League Central standings, as the White Sox lost a rubber match of their own against Baltimore.

"Those home runs -- that's what hurt us," said Porcello. "Take those away and it's a different game."

There was no taking these homers away, though. Jack Cust took Porcello deep twice. Porcello allowed eight hits over 5 1/3 innings as he fell to 10-8.

"I just fell behind him," Porcello said. "The first one, I got behind with a slider and changeup out of the zone. Then I left a fastball right over the plate and he jumped on it. ... The second one, down 3-1 [in the count], it was pretty much the same story. He just turned on it."

"We've faced him three times this year," Cust said. "The more times you face a guy, the more familiar you get. I was looking for good pitches and happened to get a few from him today,"

Curtis Granderson and Miguel Cabrera homered for the Tigers. Granderson's leadoff shot hit the right-field foul pole on the fourth pitch of the game.

Cabrera took Michael Wuertz out in the eighth, notching the 200th homer of his career, to extend his hitting streak to eight games. He's batting .531 over that span.

The loss handed the Tigers their 10th straight loss of a road series.

The Tigers haven't won a road series since taking three of five from the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field in early June.

"I don't think [playing on the road] has anything to do with anything," manager Jim Leyland said. "We haven't played well. It's as simple as that. ... [Oakland is] not having a great year and they just kicked our [behind] two out of three. You have to respect everybody. It's the Major Leagues."

Oakland put a four-spot on the board in the third. Cliff Pennington singled, then tagged and took second on a fly to Granderson in center. Rajai Davis scored Pennington with a soft single to right.

After walking Ryan Sweeney, then striking out Scott Hairston, Porcello served up Cust's three-run shot.

"[Porcello] couldn't keep the ball in the ballpark," Leyland said. "Other than that, he did pretty good. ... Solo home runs are one thing. Three-run home runs are something else."

Perry allowed both of his homers in the eighth. Landon Powell, the first batter he faced, hit the three-run homer, then Pennington homered two batters later.

"I was a little disappointed with him," Leyland said of Perry. "I was looking for the strikeout. ... He didn't bounce back too good today [after pitching yesterday]. We'll watch that."

With two on and two out in the seventh, Leyland pinch-hit Marcus Thames for Adam Everett. It worked. Thames brought Cabrera home with a single, moving Brandon Inge to second. Ramon Santiago then singled to load the bases.

Leyland played the pinch-hitter card again, subbing Ryan Raburn for Granderson. He didn't have the same luck, though, as Raburn flew to center to leave them loaded.

"Raburn put a good swing on his," Leyland said. "He had a very good at-bat. Thames got one with his. ... We just couldn't find a gap."

Adam Loberstein is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Cabrera knocks in five as Tigers top Halos
Detroit runs away with opener, extends lead in AL Central

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

08/25/09 4:15 AM ET

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ANAHEIM -- The good news for the Tigers was that they scored more runs on Monday night than they did in their entire preceding three-game weekend series. The bad news was that the Angels made sure they needed just about every one of them.

When Carlos Guillen's three-run homer in the sixth inning put Detroit into double digits, the Tigers had a 10-run lead with young ace Justin Verlander on the mound. By the time Fernando Rodney sent down Mike Napoli in the ninth inning, he not only qualified for a save in the 10-7 victory, he retired four batters to do it, the first of whom stranded the potential tying run at the plate.

Rodney did his job in his 27th save of the year. It just seemed so unlikely they'd need him to.

"It's in the win column, and we swung the bats good. That's the bright side," said manager Jim Leyland, whose team now sits 3 1/2 games up on the White Sox in the American League Central. "The other side of it is Verlander just didn't know what to do."

It's an odd statement for a young pitcher who prides himself on the shutdown inning after his team puts up runs. This time, the only shutdown part of it was the walk Leyland had to make to take Verlander out of the game with two outs in the sixth, and the move reliever Bobby Seay did to step in between Verlander and catcher Gerald Laird when they exchanged words after the inning was over.

The Tigers scored nine runs over three games against the A's. They topped that total Monday alone once Guillen hit his sixth home run in 28 games since returning from the disabled list July 24. Eight starters in Detroit's lineup scored on the night, and the Tigers sent 10 batters to the plate in the decisive inning.

"That's more like the offense I thought we would have [this year]," Leyland said.

Miguel Cabrera not only belted his second homer in as many days with a two-run shot in the fifth off Angels starter Jered Weaver (13-5), he doubled in a run in the opening inning and two more in the sixth. The five RBIs marked his highest total since he drove in six against Texas in the Tigers' home opener April 10.

He has a nine-game hitting streak, during which he's 20-for-37, and he's batting .387 with 10 doubles, eight homers and 30 RBIs since the All-Star break. Leyland was being understated after the game when he said it looked like Cabrera is heating up.

"I feel good," Cabrera said. "I feel like I'm swinging at better pitches and not trying to do too much with the ball. Like I said, I'm trying to do my job."

Considering the Tigers had scored three runs total over Verlander's previous three starts, that support was expected to be plenty. But whether it was a long time sitting between innings, an in-game change of umpires behind the plate once Tim Welke had to leave with an injury, or something else, Verlander was clearly out of sorts after the rally.

He entered the inning with a four-hit shutout on his hands, having allowed a quartet of singles while striking out seven of the first 17 Angels he faced. He ended the fifth inning with three straight 100-mph fastballs to Chone Figgins, the last of them overpowering Figgins for a double-play ground ball to short. That form seemed gone.

Bobby Abreu worked him to a full count before lashing a single back through the middle, then Torii Hunter got him for an RBI double to the fence in left-center. But a Vladimir Guerrero double and a fielder's choice grounder from Juan Rivera gave Verlander the chance to gather himself.

It didn't matter. Four consecutive two-out hits followed, the final three of them singles as Verlander's pitch count flew past 100.

"I think he just wasn't sure quite what to do," Leyland said. "He wasn't quite sure whether to just make sure [to] throw strikes. That's a lesson for him. He's got to pitch like it's 1-0. Really, we expected to get two more innings out of him, the sixth and seventh. But he's a horse. He's pitched great for us, and that's a lesson that's well-learned in a winning cause.

"He had a long delay. You probably give him the benefit of the doubt."

Verlander agreed that there was a lesson: He should've played catch between innings.

"I was pretty much throwing everything where I wanted and had a good rhythm about me," Verlander said. "Just lost it in the sixth. That's the way things go. I tried to battle through it and felt like I got it back a little bit, but at that point they had a rally going and hit some decent pitches. It kind of snowballed from there."

Once Abreu's homer in the eighth off Brandon Lyon added three more runs, Rodney was warming up. Back-to-back hits from Hunter and Guerrero brought him into an unthinkable situation, a four-out save.

"I really had no choice," Leyland said.

Rodney, showing the best stability of the night, finished off his 27th save, and his first of more than one inning since last September. The Tigers finally ended off a wild night.

"The Tigers won the game," Leyland said. "That's the bottom line."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

With gutty play, Tigers clinch road series
Strong defense gives Detroit victory over Angels

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

08/26/09 1:26 AM ET
updated: 08/26/09 3:24 AM ET

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ANAHEIM -- Maybe it's fitting that the series that defines the Tigers for the home stretch of their playoff stretch is happening in the shadow of Disneyland, where Detroit's postseason dreams are starting to look a lot more real than they did two days ago.

But as Clete Thomas kept backpedaling on the eighth-inning fly ball from Angels slugger Kendry Morales Tuesday, all the Tigers could see was the looming figure of Angel Stadium's right-field fence, and Thomas running out of room beneath the out-of-town scoreboard that showed another White Sox loss in Boston earlier in the evening.

Thomas played Morales' fly ball with the aggressiveness that manager Jim Leyland wants to see his team play with on the road. And as Thomas came down from his leap with the ball in his glove, preserving the 5-3 margin with which the Tigers eventually went on to beat the Angels, he sprinted down the right-field line to the Tigers dugout.

"I thought Morales' ball was gone," Leyland said. "I was waiting for the crowd to roar, and then all of a sudden, the bench was roaring."

They haven't had that kind of turn of emotions very often this summer. Usually on the road, they've gone the other way.

Not since June 8-11 had the Tigers won a series on the road, taking three of five from the White Sox in a Chicago set that included Dontrelle Willis in the Tigers' rotation and Jeremy Bonderman returning from his previous stint on the disabled list.

They had lost 10 straight road series since, beginning with Pittsburgh and continuing last weekend at Oakland, with stops in seven other cities in between.

Whether there was anything to it, they knew they had to play better away from home if they were going to reach the postseason. By playing better now, they've stretched their lead in the American League to 4 1/2 games over the White Sox, and kept it at 4 1/2 over the red-hot Twins. It's their largest lead since June 25, and a lead preserved on games they could've easily lost the past two nights.

"It was a good win," Leyland said. "It was a heck of a win, really. I'm sure everybody was feeling we'd come here and get our tails kicked."

Instead, they've come out west and taken two close games from the AL West leaders and potential AL Division Series opponents. It took about as solid a defensive game as they've played all year, and a performance from the top half of the order that they hoped to see.

It isn't just about winning. It's the way they've won these games.

"We played like we want to play," said Miguel Cabrera, whose game-tying solo homer and three-hit night continued his torrid stretch. "We know we're playing with a first-place team. We know it's going to be tough. We know we have to play hard every inning, every game."

Curtis Granderson's leadoff homer was the first of two fifth-inning shots off Angels starter John Lackey (8-7) to bring the Tigers back from an early 3-1 deficit. While Cabrera's game-tying drive to straightaway center was more majestic, Granderson's shot was his eighth career homer in 20 games at the Angels' home park, tying his high total for any other Major League stadium he visits.

If that wasn't enough, his flat-out sprint across center field to rob Bobby Abreu of a first-inning hit likely prevented a run from scoring.

"I don't know what it is," Granderson said. "Just everything about this ballpark, I like."

He nearly topped that in the seventh, when his drive to right seemingly hit the top of the out-of-town scoreboard built into the fence and bounced back into play. Though a manager can't formally ask for a replay, crew chief Mark Carlson brought the umpires into the tunnel for a video review. Replays eventually confirmed their ruling, but Placido Polanco's triple into the right-field corner on Lackey's next and final pitch made it a moot point.

The rally made a winner out of Tigers starter Jarrod Washburn (9-7), who overcame Howard Kendrick's three-run homer in the second inning to shut down his former team over the next four for his first victory as a Tiger in his fifth Detroit start.

"My command was terrible all night, to tell you the truth," Washburn said. "It took a couple innings until we realized what we were going to have to do."

All three innings of Tigers relief ended with drama. Zach Miner replaced Washburn and walked the bases loaded in the seventh before rookie catcher Alex Avila recovered a ball in the dirt to throw out Abreu at the plate.

Another Miner walk with two outs in the eighth set up pinch-hitter Morales and Thomas' catch at the fence.

"I had a great jump and a great read of it off the bat. It was just a matter of whether I was going to run out of room," Thomas said.

Once Fernando Rodney allowed his first two runners on in the ninth, he had to retire the middle of the Angels order. He jammed Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero into fly balls with 99-mph fastballs before inducing Juan Rivera to ground out for his 28th save.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers' bid for sweep thwarted by Angels
Detroit drops finale with Everett's homer as lone highlight

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

08/26/09 6:30 PM ET
updated: 08/26/09 9:00 PM ET

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ANAHEIM -- There was no question from the Tigers on how differently Angel Stadium plays for day games compared to evenings. Their downfall was that the Angels don't play it differently at all.

The Angels still run, and leave it up to opponents to decide how to play. The Tigers tried the same aggressiveness when they had the chances, but the Angels executed better. In the end, though the Tigers still escaped California with their first road series win since early June, they felt like they missed their chances to turn Wednesday afternoon's 4-2 loss in the finale into a sweep-sealing victory.

"We just didn't do much," manager Jim Leyland said, citing a familiar refrain for a game that wasn't quite like their usual low-scoring losses.

Though Torii Hunter's two-run homer put the Angels in command to stay in the opening inning, Adam Everett's two-run shot in the fifth eventually nullified it. Neither drive to left initially appeared to be heading out, but with a first-pitch temperature of 97 degrees and not a cloud in the sky to interrupt the Southern California sunshine, balls carried.

Hunter's 18th homer of the season off a full-count Edwin Jackson fastball barely cleared the fence in left-center as Curtis Granderson dropped his hands in seeming disbelief.

"I didn't think he hit it that well to get it out of the park," Jackson said, "but it went. That's just part of the game right there."

Said Hunter: "I don't know if it was a mistake, because it was low and away. I might've been lucky, if anything."

Likewise, Everett put a good swing on a Joe Saunders changeup and watched it carry until it ended up in the bullpen for Everett's third homer. If he could've made better contact on Brian Fuentes' first-pitch fastball with two outs in the ninth, he felt like he could've done the same, which would've tied the game.

The difference was the runs in between -- chances converted by the Angels and missed by the Tigers. Both were on simple two-out singles.

The Angels took off early and often on the combination of Jackson and catcher Gerald Laird, whose rate of runners thrown out entered the day best in the league. Yet, only one of the Halos' five steals played any role in a run -- a Bobby Abreu steal after a leadoff walk in the third inning. Though Hunter's ensuing walk would've moved Abreu to second anyway, the steal also opened the base for Jackson to pitch carefully.

Jackson (10-7) induced a double play from Vladimir Guerrero, but Kendry Morales' single on a Jackson changeup plated Abreu. Gary Matthews Jr.'s two-out double two innings later extended the fourth inning for Chone Figgins to continue haunting the Tigers with an easy blooper to left, just shallow enough that Ryan Raburn didn't have a play as Matthews rounded third.

Figgins played a role in two runs with two hits and two stolen bases. He wanted a third, but third-base umpire Chad Fairchild ruled play was dead before he took off after Ryan Perry struck out Hunter.

"A lot of the pitches they stole on today, unfortunately, I was doing offspeed in that count," Jackson said. "Most of the pitches they ran on were offspeed. It's definitely perfect timing. Not to say if they got a fastball they wouldn't have had the base. I'm not making that an excuse. It's just saying it's harder for a catcher to throw a person out on offspeed. I was just trying to stay focused on getting to the hitters."

The Tigers stole one base, but it set up their best opportunity by far to cut into the Angels' lead. Placido Polanco's swipe of second not only took away the double-play possibility with Magglio Ordonez at the plate in the fourth inning, it would've allowed Ordonez to advance the runner on one of his usual hits to the right side. Instead, Ordonez's walk gave a bigger opportunity to red-hot Miguel Cabrera.

Once Saunders fell behind on a 3-0 count, Leyland gave Cabrera the green light to swing, a tactic he has tried often with Cabrera over the past several weeks. Cabrera froze and took a fastball down the middle for strike one.

"Sometimes you freeze," Cabrera said. "It's going to happen sometimes."

What frustrated Cabrera a little more was that he fouled off what he felt was the same pitch on a 3-1 count. With the count full and nobody out, Leyland took a chance and sent his runners.

"What you're doing," Leyland explained, "is you're saying you think he'll put it in play if he throws a strike."

Saunders threw a well-placed fastball low. Cabrera swung through it, leaving Polanco an easy out at third base for the second out.

"That was a little bit of a back-breaker," Leyland said.

Leyland tried to take the responsibility on that call. But Cabrera insisted it was up to him to put it in play.

"That's my fault," Cabrera said. "On 3-2, I know he's going to run. If I know, I have to move my eyes. I messed up that at-bat. That's the inning. That's the key."

Detroit went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, capped by Everett's popout to short on a Fuentes first-pitch fastball after a pitch off Laird's knee put the would-be tying run on base.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Porcello sets tone for win in opener
Bottom of Tigers' order comes to life in fourth inning

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

08/28/09 10:08 PM ET
UPDATED: 08/29/09 12:38 AM ET

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DETROIT -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland openly worried about the Rays' combination of power and speed heading into this series. Rick Porcello silenced almost all of it.

As a result, the 20-year-old rookie added another milestone to his list, and the Tigers' 6-2 win Friday night at Comerica Park added another game to their division lead.

"That's pretty impressive for a young kid," Leyland said. "He got out of a couple jams."

His success, combined with Robinson Cano's walk-off homer at Yankee Stadium, put the White Sox further into a jam in the division. While Detroit's lead stayed at 4 1/2 games over Minnesota, it's up to five games over Chicago.

Just as critical for the Tigers, Porcello seems to be back in form and giving opposing hitters a little twist off his sinkerball.

Tampa Bay came to the Motor City as one of just four American League teams with 164 homers and 164 stolen bases in the same season, but the Rays picked up none of either against Porcello (11-8). They had a chance to pick up runs early, but Porcello thwarted them at three different situations, often with his change of speeds.

That in itself is a changeup for Porcello. As his success grew over the summer, hitters began to look for the sinker and center it more often.

This new game plan, helped by catcher Gerald Laird, is the countermeasure.

"It's big to keep guys off the sinker and also to kind of hide it a little bit," Porcello said. "Some guys, I was throwing a lot of four-seamers early to them and trying to run sinkers in late. They know I'm trying to come in on them, but they haven't seen it yet."

That proved big in the opening inning after Carl Crawford's one-out bunt single and Brandon Inge's fielding error on Evan Longoria's ground ball put runners at first and second for the big power portion of the Rays order. Porcello mixed fastballs and sinkers to former Tiger Carlos Pena early, snuck in a changeup on a 2-1 pitch for a big foul ball, then caught Pena looking at a sinker on the outside corner for a called third strike.

An eight-pitch battle with Pat Burrell ran the count full before Porcello dropped a breaking ball on him, sending him swinging for strike three.

"That mix of pitches was big for us to get out of that inning and get off on the right foot as far as the rest of the game was concerned," Porcello said.

Detroit's defense, too, came into play. Another Inge error and a walk to Jason Bartlett put runners back on first and second in the third inning, this time for the 2-3-4 hitters in Tampa Bay's order. After Crawford sacrificed the runners up a base, Longoria pounced on the first pitch he saw for a solid line drive that Inge snared. Porcello fell behind on Pena, but Granderson ran down his drive to center.

Porcello needed one more escape out of a similar jam in the fifth, using fastballs to get a fly ball from Crawford and a strikeout from Longoria.

Although Porcello's power hasn't always been evident in games, his fastball topped out in the mid-90s on occasion. The Rays struggled to catch up once he turned to the sinker.

"He really had a lot of movement on his fastball," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "When you see guys just chopping balls into the front of the home plate area, which was really manicured nicely soft -- the ball was just exploding into that mud there -- you can see that the guy has some really good late movement."

The late success that goes with it put Porcello (11-8) into some good company. His 11th win matches him with Dave Rozema for the most in franchise history by a pitcher before turning 21. Rozema won 15 games in 1977, but 11 came before his 21st birthday on Aug. 5.

Porcello left after Gregg Zaun's RBI single in the sixth, but Detroit's bats had already done their damage. Inge's second-inning solo homer and two-run doubles from Laird and Adam Everett paced an offensive surge off Rays starter Matt Garza (7-9). He lost his half of the pitching duel when he allowed six straight Tigers to reach base safely in the fourth.

All those fourth-inning runners came after Garza retired a red-hot Miguel Cabrera for the first out of the inning. Aubrey Huff and Carlos Guillen drew back-to-back walks before Inge's single loaded the bases. Laird's blooper went past the diving right fielder Gabe Gross, and Everett's ball headed down the left-field line and into the corner.

"I thought Garza walking Huffy and Guillen were probably the two biggest plays of the night," Maddon said, "because [Garza] had good stuff."

Five of Detroit's first six hits came from the bottom third of the lineup, including Laird's second multi-hit game since the All-Star break, on a night when Cabrera went hitless.

"He's been doing a heckuva job pretty much carrying us in the middle there," Leyland said. "But if we're going to win, we have to get those contributions from everybody."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Rays 3, Tigers 1
Nate Robertson pitches well, but mistakes doom Tigers
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Have to play better than that.

Allowing two unearned runs, the first because of a passed ball and the second on a botched double-play ball, the Tigers lost 3-1 on Saturday to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Nate Robertson lasted four innings (70 pitches) in his first start of the season for the Tigers. With elbow surgery interrupting the year, it was his first appearance since June 26.

He did well.

The Rays scored two of their runs against him, but only one was earned. Plus his stuff looked sharp. Granted, Robertson's longest previous appearance was only three innings, but Robertson's four strikeouts were a season high.

Robertson (1-1) retired the side in order in the first inning, worked out of first-and-third trouble with one out in the second by striking out former Tiger Gabe Kapler and getting Dioner Navarro on a pop-up to short.

Robertson wasn't able to work out of trouble in the third, though. A single-walk-groundout combination put Rays at second and third with one out. Ben Zobrist's grounder to short drove in the first run, but Laird's passed ball on a pitch that struck out Pat Burrell kept the inning going.

The mistake proved costly when Carlos Pena singled in the second run of the inning. Adam Everett's second error of the game led to the Rays' final run in the ninth.

The Tigers put together just one good scoring chance against winning pitcher David Price (7-6).

After the Rays' starter retired the first six batters he faced, including the first of two hits Marcus Thames was robbed of in the game, Brandon Inge led off the third with a single to left, followed by a bunt single from Gerald Laird.

Everett nearly bunted his way on as well, but with a sacrifice, the Tigers had runners at second and third. It was the first time, as well as the last, that they put two runners on at the same time against Price -- but they were stranded.

Curtis Granderson struck out and Placido Polanco flied out to right to end the inning.

The Tigers didn't see second base again until the sixth, when Magglio Ordonez grounded into a fielder's choice, but went to second on a throwing error by shortstop Jason Bartlett, but after three consecutive fouls, Miguel Cabrera struck out swinging.

Tigers can't get into groove against Price
Robertson offers positive signs in return to rotation

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

08/29/09 9:35 PM ET

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DETROIT -- The Tigers were fine with Nate Robertson's return. It was the other left-handed starter at Comerica Park on Saturday afternoon that was the cause of manager Jim Leyland's frustration.

The Tigers have benefited virtually all season from the Rays' decision to trade Edwin Jackson last winter, but David Price showed Saturday why Tampa Bay felt good enough about its pitching depth to swing a deal. It wasn't just that Price all but shut down a power-heavy Detroit lineup for 7 1/3 innings in a 3-1 Rays win, but that he overpowered the Tigers' right-handed power hitters.

None of the five hits Detroit managed off Price went for extra bases. Three of them didn't leave the infield, and one of the two that did was a softly hit bloop single that broke Curtis Granderson's bat.

Take those aside, and just a half-dozen of Detroit's 22 outs against Price reached Tampa Bay's outfielders.

"You can see he's got an electric fastball," catcher Gerald Laird said. "But today it seemed like he just kept us off balance, and he located well. We had our chances to score some runs. We just couldn't get that big hit. You have to tip your hat sometimes. You're not always going to get to him."

The Rays didn't exactly get to Robertson, either. He didn't overpower their lineup, but he certainly seemed to catch them by surprise with his command and extra velocity.

A day after Robertson said he believed some of his vintage stuff was back after surgery in June to remove four tissue masses from his elbow, his performance seemed to back that up. His slider showed some of the bite that made him so tough against left-handed hitters a few years ago, and his fastball reached into the 90s on the Comerica Park radar gun at least a handful of times, topping out at 91 mph.

"The velocity was there," Laird said. "The ball was a lot more crisp out of his hand. The slider was a lot tighter. It was definitely a positive. He threw some good changeups, and his sinker was sinking down and away. You could tell by some of the swings he got."

That was the gauge that Robertson wanted to see. Though he said he had much the same stuff in his final two rehab outings for Triple-A Toledo, including his 6 1/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts Tuesday, he wanted to see how Major League hitters judged his stuff. For someone who seemingly struggled to find the confidence to attack hitters at times last year, that's important.

"With all due respect, that's not the Louisville Bats," Robertson said.

Former Tigers outfielder Gabe Kapler went down swinging at a slider with runners at the corners and one out in the fourth inning. So did Pat Burrell in the third on a slider in the dirt that got away from Laird for a critical passed ball. Robertson froze Jason Bartlett on another slider that dropped in for a called third strike to end the frame and strand Kapler at second.

"My slider's been back for four starts now," Robertson said, "and I'm getting some bad swings and misses on it. The changeup has command. I can pitch now. I don't have to worry about what's going on [with the elbow]."

The aforementioned passed ball turned out to be big, extending the third inning after Akinori Iwamura singled and scored. Two pitches after the passed ball, Carlos Pena hit a bouncer through the right side to drive in Bartlett for a 2-0 Rays lead.

Robertson left with 70 pitches thrown over four innings, two more than his last rehab start. He was pitching on three days' rest.

"I thought he did fine," Leyland said. "I was watching him close. He picked us up, really. He gave us a shot to win the game. That's all you can ask for."

What got to Leyland on Saturday was the Tigers' recent trend of struggles against left-handed pitchers, who handed Detriot both of its losses so far this week. The latest dropped the Tigers to 22-16 against left-handed starters this season -- still better than their 46-44 mark against right-handers, but not as good as Leyland would like it to be.

While the Tigers' .258 overall average ranks 12th out of 14 American League teams, they're actually batting worse against lefty pitchers, including relievers. Only Oakland owns a lower batting average and OPS off southpaws in the AL than Detroit's .245 and .744 clips, respectively.

A good part of that comes from the left-handed-hitting Granderson, who's batting .181 off lefties. But again, he had one of the Tigers' handful of hits off Price on Saturday.

"[Price's] a very young, strong young man with a great arm and very good stuff," Leyland said. "That's why he was [drafted] No. 1 in the country. He's very impressive. That's not an easy task. But we have to start getting a little more production. We didn't get any production out of our right-handed hitters the other day in California against [Angels lefty Joe] Saunders, and we didn't get much today."

Brandon Inge's third-inning leadoff single and Laird's ensuing bunt single gave Detroit one of just two runners in scoring position against Price (7-6). He followed up Adam Everett's sacrifice bunt by spotting a fastball on the outside corner to Granderson for a called third strike to erase the sac fly opportunity.

Granderson nearly had another hit off Price, but Gabe Gross' leaping catch at the right-field fence in the eighth robbed him of extra bases and pontentially an RBI. Magglio Ordonez singled off Dan Wheeler to put the Tigers on the scoreboard, but Grant Balfour and lefty closer J.P. Howell finished them off from there.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Polanco helps Verlander earn win No. 15
Second baseman rescues Tigers with three-run homer

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

08/30/09 3:40 PM ET
UPDATED: 08/30/09 5:59 PM ET

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DETROIT -- The flags atop the left-field scoreboard sure didn't seem to be flying in Placido Polanco's favor Sunday. Nor did Brandon Inge's aching left knee seem to be good for a leaping grab. But then, everything seems to be going in the Tigers' direction these days.

As unpredictable as the swirling winds can be in Comerica Park on a breezy afternoon, Polanco and other Tigers had noticed balls in left field carrying consistently over the course of this outing. So when Polanco lofted a ball towards the corner with two on and two out in the eighth inning, he wasn't expecting, but he was hoping.

"When I hit it, I knew it had a chance," Polanco said of his go-ahead homer that sent the Tigers to a 4-3 win over the Rays. "But I was kind of blowing it, pushing it, like, 'Go, go, please.'"

The same breeze that sent the Tigers to victory wasn't blowing in Yankee Stadium, but momentum sure seemed to be. Though the Tigers' lead stayed at 4 1/2 games over the second-place Twins thanks to Minnesota's comeback win over Texas, they moved to six games ahead of the White Sox after the Yankees finished off a three-game sweep of Chicago.

Detroit's rally also meant a share of the American League wins lead for starter Justin Verlander (15-7), now tied with Yankees ace CC Sabathia. The two shared the Major League lead before the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright won his 16th later Sunday afternoon.

That's not the lead Verlander is worried about at the moment. Nor was it in his sights as he watched Polanco's drive from the Tigers' dugout.

"I saw a similar ball get caught in the All-Star Game by the same guy," Verlander said, referring to Rays left fielder Carl Crawford. "I was hoping it had just enough legs on it to get out behind the fence and he wouldn't have a play on it."

Verlander, too, said he was trying to blow the ball out to left. Others were doing their part.

"Nate [Robertson] pulled out Gum Time again today," Verlander said, referring to Robertson's gum-chewing habit in rally situations. "Hadn't seen that since 2006. I kept yelling at him, 'Chew that gum!'"

Verlander had seen balls carrying to left field all afternoon, though neither Evan Longoria's two-run homer in the fourth nor Akinori Iwamura's solo shot two batters later had much doubt to them. They gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead on a day when Jeff Niemann was trying to duplicate what David Price did to the Tigers the previous afternoon.

One day after Price overpowered Detroit for 7 1/3 innings of five-hit ball, Niemann -- selected two picks after Verlander in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft -- used a blend of movement and deception to nearly do the same thing. Clete Thomas' two singles and a double comprised more of half of Detroit's hit total as well half its runs; his leadoff bloop single in the third set up Curtis Granderson's two-out RBI single.

Thomas' leadoff double into the right-field corner in the eighth brought the potential tying run to the plate for the Tigers and chased Niemann. Grant Balfour (5-3) retired pinch-hitter Magglio Ordonez and struck out Ramon Santiago, bringing up Granderson with two outs and pitching coach Jim Hickey out from the dugout.

"They came out and said I can pitch around him," Balfour said. "I don't want to pitch around Granderson, to be honest. I feel like I'm pitching on the defensive then. Wish I'd never got that in my head. Challenged the first two guys and then I'm pitching around him, then I kind of went on the defensive, and that's when I got hurt."

Granderson's five-pitch walk brought up Polanco as the go-ahead run, but Balfour (5-3) couldn't pound the strike zone. He fell behind before challenging him with a 2-0 fastball over the plate at 95 mph.

Polanco has had plenty of key hits to the opposite field, but he jumped on Balfour's fastball.

"One advantage that I have in those situations, I have a pretty good hitter behind me hitting third in the lineup," Polanco said. "I'm sure they'd rather face me than whoever's hitting behind me. I'm always aggressive and I'm always looking for that pitch to hit."

On contact, it looked like a pop fly to left. Then it kept carrying, and Crawford kept retreating until he crept within leaping range of the fence.

"At first, off the bat I thought it was going to be just a regular fly ball at the wall, but it just kept going," Crawford said. "I just jumped as high as I could, reached over the wall, still couldn't get it. It just kept carrying."

The ball landed in the Tigers' bullpen, where closer Fernando Rodney had just started playing catch, just in case. Once the ball landed, Rodney scrambled to get ready. He gave up a one-out single in the ninth, but retired the side for his 29th save, helped in large part by Inge's leaping catch to throw out B.J. Upton for the final out.

"I had to jump and try to catch it at the peak," Inge said. "Maybe a foot higher, and I don't think I would've been able to get it."

The Tigers are getting those breaks these days.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Struggling Washburn battered early
Starter endures six-run first frame; Guillen cracks two homers

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

08/31/09 6:25 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Jarrod Washburn couldn't have expected his new home to be a destination city in late summer. But he couldn't have expected it to be this rough of a welcome.

Five home starts into his stretch run with the Tigers, he's still looking for his first win at Comerica Park in a home uniform. But then, 25 pitches into his latest outing Monday afternoon, he was still looking to retire his first Tampa Bay Ray, and struggling to avoid frustration.

"If you get frustrated and you let it get to you, then it really blows up," Washburn said after the Tigers' 11-7 defeat. "I don't know if it could've blown up any more than it did on me. Six runs in an inning, you're not going to win too many games when you put a team in a hole like that."

All six of those runs came in the first six batters. He went on to retire nine in a row after that with what he said was the same stuff he took into the opening inning. All he and the rest of the Tigers could do is shake their heads.

That's all Washburn can do about the past month since coming to the Tigers. Asked to assess his time so far, he was bluntly critical of himself.

"I would say pretty terrible," he said. "I've had a bad month. The whole month I've been here, I've had a good couple good starts, but overall, I've been not good."

His pitches weren't that bad. The results were his worst not only since joining the Tigers, but his worst to start a game since he got to the big leagues.

Carlos Pena's 38th home run of the year started him on his way to a three-hit, four-RBI day at his old home park, but it closed out the roll of six straight Rays to reach base safely. It was also the only truly hard-hit ball of the bunch.

The last four hits went for extra bases, including three straight RBI doubles. A down-and-in fastball to Ben Zobrist ended up laced into left-center to open the scoring, but Washburn recovered from that to put Pat Burrell in an 0-2 hole. He tried to get Burrell to chase a ball off the plate, then had to watch in wonder as Burrell reached and poked a blooper down the right-field line.

"It was a changeup about a foot off the plate," said catcher Alex Avila, still impressed that Burrell got it.

Avila was just as impressed with what Evan Longoria did with a fastball meant to jam him inside. He laced that one down the right-field line as Burrell came around to score for a 3-0 lead.

Up came Pena, batting under .200 against left-handed pitchers, yet facing a starter who had been holding left-handed hitters to a .173 average entering Monday. Yet, when Washburn tried to start him off with a fastball on the outer half, Pena sent it out to right.

Pena's ex-teammate, Carlos Guillen, cut into the deficit with his two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, but four runs is as close as the Tigers came the rest of the afternoon.

"There was a point," manager Jim Leyland said, "where they had six runs, we had two, and we might've hit the ball harder than they did, with the exception of Pena's home run."

The quality of contact doesn't factor into the statistics on Washburn. He joined the Tigers with a 2.64 ERA on the season, third-lowest in the American League. Monday's loss raised it to 3.55. He has allowed 28 runs on 41 hits over 37 innings since joining the Tigers, including 25 runs over five home starts. His only win as a Tiger came on the road last week against the Angels.

"Anytime you get traded to a team that's in first place and has a chance to go to the playoffs, you want to do what you can to help them get there," Washburn said. "And I haven't been helping."

When asked if he's concerned, Leyland agreed. He isn't worried to death, he said, but he isn't ignoring it, either.

"Sure, I'm concerned," Leyland said. "He's given up quite a few runs in several of his starts now."

Yet as Leyland also pointed out, the add-on runs mathematically made the difference in the game, from Jason Bartlett's sixth-inning solo homer that helped chase Washburn from the game to Pena's fifth-inning RBI double and seventh-inning RBI single.

Between Washburn's struggles and Aubrey Huff's slump at the plate, the biggest contribution from a summer acquisition so far has been Guillen, whose four-hit game Monday included two homers to give him eight in 5 1/2 weeks since coming back from the DL.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Rays 11, Tigers 7
Jarrod Washburn's struggles continue, Tigers take a tumble
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Meaningful games in September have returned.

Following what the Tigers can only hope was a meaningless game to close out August.

Once in a while, though, usually after such a loss as Monday's 11-7 improbable climb against the Tampa Bay Rays, thoughts get bumped from the Tigers' first-place present to their whatever-place future.

No harm done if it's just a glimpse, right?

No harm done if it doesn't take much time to peer ahead.

A brief bump is warranted, though, because the Tigers have entrusted part of their present to two acquired players: pitcher Jarrod Washburn and designated hitter Aubrey Huff.

And neither one has performed the way they hoped.

In fact, at this point, neither one has contributed in such a way that you can envision the Tigers re-signing them as free agents -- not that it was ever set in stone that they would.

That's the glimpse, however.

As if 2010 just appeared on the screen and blipped off, leaving the impression it will be here and gone for these two, Washburn and Huff -- unless, of course, they begin to change some minds.

It was Washburn, cheap hits and all, who gave up six runs in the first inning on Monday -- something he hadn't done in any of his 297 previous starts.

Washburn has allowed runs in bunches before. A seven-run third last year against the Tigers when he was with Seattle comes to mind.

But never six runs in the first.

As for Huff, who is 3-for-34 with one RBI as a Tiger after going hitless in the loss, manager Jim Leyland believes he's trying too hard. So he plans to rest him the next couple of days.

"He's fighting himself," Leyland said.

Washburn's outing, in which he eventually allowed eight runs in 5 2/3 innings, was a mix of ineffectiveness and bad luck. He allowed more than his share of bloops and dinks, but Carlos Pena didn't bloop that two-run home run of his into the right-field seats.

Nor did Pena bloop the run-scoring double that hooked instead of sliced in the fifth, fooling a not-easily-fooled Curtis Granderson.

Washburn is now 1-2 with a 6.81 ERA in six starts as a Tiger. He's disappointed -- and his manager is concerned.

"Sure, I'm concerned," Leyland said. "He's given up a few runs. He didn't pitch well, and he didn't have any luck at all. But I'm not going to act like I'm worried to death."

What good would that do, anyway, now that the race to the wire has arrived? Washburn is in the rotation, for better or worse -- and the Tigers are both hoping for, and in need of better.

After the game, "pretty terrible" was the way Washburn described how he's pitched as a Tiger. "Overall, I've been not good. But I have to shake it off."

As for the loss, despite appearances, it wasn't over with the Rays' six-run first because the Tigers eventually scored seven.

And when the Tigers not only bounced back with two in the first on the first of Carlos Guillen's two home runs, and didn't have a swinging strike against James Shields (9-10) until Alex Avila struck out in the fourth -- not one of Shields' better games, in other words -- it looked like a slugfest was in the making.

Which it was.

But the runs the Rays scored later, compared to sooner, were too much to overcome.

Since then, however, there have been two pages for the Tigers to turn: The proverbial page that follows every loss.

And the calendar page, which takes them to where they're at now: A significant September.

tom.gage@detnews.com

Bullpen delivers for Detroit
Rodney registers 30th save of the season

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/01/09 10:05 PM ET
updated: 09/02/09 12:30 AM ET

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DETROIT -- As Tigers manager Jim Leyland has said from time to time, that game looked like it had a disaster written all over it.

The box score will show the four-run opening inning off Cleveland's seemingly nervous Carlos Carrasco in his Major League debut, the seven-run lead through four innings, the 8-5 final over the Indians and the Tigers' lead in the American League Central preserved at 3 1/2 games over the Twins.

Leyland's gut will feel the brunt of Edwin Jackson's battle to get though the fifth inning and qualify for the victory, as Grady Sizemore's two-run double and another run on a Carlos Guillen error brought the Indians back within striking distance.

"I didn't like the smell of that game at all," Leyland said.

Detroit's bullpen, in that regard, provided quite the air freshener. In the case of Fernando Rodney, it also provided a milestone.

For a team that didn't have an established closer entering the season, had a 22-year-old pitching some setup work in his first full professional season and then had famed fastballer Joel Zumaya for just three months, relief was not supposed to be a strong term for the Tigers. Even when Detroit broke out to the front of the division race in May, the team's strength supposedly was the starting pitching, not the arms that came afterwards.

Now, the ERA, batting average against, OPS allowed and strikeout rate all are better from the bullpen this year than from the rotation. Tigers relievers have combined for a 3.82 ERA, a .239 batting average and 112 strikeouts over 127 innings since the All-Star break, and the trio of Bobby Seay, Brandon Lyon and Rodney has molded into a formidable late-inning presence to shorten games.

While Rodney retired the side in the ninth for his 30th save on the year, making him just the fourth Tigers pitcher to reach the milestone, it was a group effort to salvage a game that easily could've gotten away.

The way Carrasco started, it looked as though Cleveland never had a chance. The Venezuelan right-hander joined the Indians organization as part of the Cliff Lee trade at the end of July and became a September callup when rosters expanded Tuesday.

Carrasco (0-1) gave up hits or walks to Detroit's first six hitters, including back-to-back homers from Placido Polanco and Carlos Guillen and an Aubrey Huff RBI single. Until Carrasco struck out seventh hitter Brandon Inge, his only out came from his defense, as right fielder Matt LaPorta threw out leadoff man Curtis Granderson trying to stretch out a triple.

Gerald Laird capped the rally with a two-out double off the top of the left-field fence. Inge added a two-run homer in the third.

"Usually when you see a new pitcher, you don't get [good] swings off of him," Leyland said, "because you're not quite sure what his stuff is. For whatever reason, we got real aggressive early in the count, and then he hung a couple breaking balls when he got a couple strikes. That hurt him."

Suddenly Jackson, owner of the second-lowest run support average among AL starters, had a huge lead early to protect. What he didn't have was his usual sharp pitches. He stranded runners in scoring position with double plays to end the second and third innings, the latter thanks to a tricky short-hop grab from Inge at third base. Three straight hits to start the fifth and two more with two outs left him languishing to get through the inning and had Zach Miner warming in the bullpen for the second time of the night.

Leyland sometimes hates the feel of big leads because he doesn't like trying to strike the balance between pushing too much and easing up too soon. For a pitcher, it's a mind game.

"You have to keep telling yourself to keep coming after hitters as if it's a close game," Jackson said. "It can be challenging sometimes, but you just have to stay in that mind frame. The tide can turn that quick, regardless of however many runs you're up. You just have to kind of stay in that little bubble, treating the game as a one-run game."

Jackson (11-6) gave up four runs on nine hits while striking out six over five innings. Once Andy Marte greeted Miner with a homer leading off the sixth, the Indians were within three.

"We worked ourselves back in the game," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said, "but we could have done a lot more than that."

Miner, Seay, Lyon and Rodney combined to retire 10 straight from there, including five by strikeout, until an infield single with one out in the ninth. For Seay, it marked his 24th hold of the year, second in the AL. He also has seven strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings over his past six outings. Lyon lowered his ERA to 1.30 in his past 32 games.

The capper, fittingly, was Rodney, who recovered from Michael Brantley's single and got back-to-back groundouts to finish off his milestone save. Of the eight other 30-save seasons in Tigers history, Todd Jones has five, Willie Hernandez two and John Hiller one.

For someone who had to wait for his opportunity to hold down the role, that significance wasn't lost.

"I think, for me, it means [Leyland] has given me the ball this year and shown that I can be the closer and close 30 games. I think when you get the opportunity to play, you can make a big number. Sometimes you don't have the opportunity."

It's why Rodney got the game ball. Leyland and the Tigers, meanwhile, got the game.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers seize opportunity to gain ground
Porcello's sinker shows early-season form in win vs. Tribe

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/02/09 8:59 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/03/09 12:11 AM ET

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DETROIT -- The Tigers knew right away they had a gift opportunity Wednesday after the Twins lost to the White Sox. It has taken a little time, on the other hand, to see the opportunity the Tigers were arguably given when Rick Porcello had to miss time last month.

What Porcello has done since his suspension has seemingly turned back some of the innings that looked to be wearing him down. Porcello's second wind met the Tigers' latest opportunity in their playoff race Wednesday, and the resulting 4-2 win over the Indians created a little more breathing room in the standings.
The win, paired with Minnesota's loss, stretched Detroit's lead back to 4 1/2 games in the American League Central. The Tigers could stretch it to five games with a win Thursday, with the Twins idle.

"I'm not going to really talk about what other teams are doing," manager Jim Leyland said. "It's big for us to win. What somebody else does, we don't really have any control over."

That doesn't mean they aren't keenly aware of their day-to-day fortunes.

Some of the Tigers spent Wednesday afternoon watching the White Sox comeback from the clubhouse food room. Others were in the clubhouse trying to fly remote-control helicopters. That goes back to Leyland's message to his players a few weeks ago, that they should enjoy the playoff race.

Either way, when they took the field Wednesday night, they knew their chance in the standings. They had their own opportunities, and they converted just enough of them to win. But the opportunities came not just from those White Sox homers off Joe Nathan or from the three errors by Indians third baseman Jhonny Peralta, but also from the latest chapter in Porcello's maturation process.

If Porcello (12-8) is supposed to be wearing down for the season's final month, the 20-year-old isn't showing it. He recovered from a pair of ground-ball singles and a first-inning run to retire 16 of his next 18 batters thanks to a heavy sinker that helped produce three ground-ball double plays.

Through his first two innings, he had seven ground balls and nothing in the air. The Indians' first contact that didn't hit the ground was Michael Brantley's screaming comebacker that somehow found Porcello's glove leading off the third.

It was a throwback outing to the early-season Porcello who buried opponents with sinkers. Yet he credits the mix of pitches he has developed his last few starts, fueled by a pure fastball that has some renewed strength.
"I threw a lot of four-seamers today, especially to the left-handed hitters, even to some of their right-handed hitters, trying to get them off my sinker," Porcello said.

Catcher Gerald Laird has seen the progress in Porcello's fastball, which is why he keeps calling for it. It's a little more of the power arsenal that scouts touted about Porcello going into the First-Year Player Draft in 2007.

"His four-seamer's been getting better and better every outing," Laird said. "Early on in the year, he was using it just to back guys off. Now he's going in there for strikes and for backing guys off. Now guys can't just go out over the plate on him, because they know he can throw this for a strike. It's opened it up so much for his sinker on lefties and righties.

"He got a couple strikeouts tonight on four-seamers when I think righties are looking for that sinker in. When they can tell it's a four-seamer in the zone away, it's already late. I caught a couple pitches where they kind of tipped it into my glove, and I could tell they were late on it."

Maybe, just maybe, it's a little product of the time off.

Nobody seemed as surprised as Porcello when Kevin Youkilis charged the mound that night last month in Boston, setting off a benches-clearing fracas. Although Porcello initially planned to appeal his five-game suspension, he changed his mind when he realized he could serve it out without missing a turn in the rotation.

Between his second-inning ejection and the suspension, Porcello threw just 15 pitches in an 11-day span.

"We've been very fortunate, blessed really," Leyland said, "to get him through without overtaxing him."

He didn't last through the sixth inning in his first three starts back. On Wednesday, he needed just 78 pitches through seven before Travis Hafner's solo homer on his 80th pitch led off the eighth. It marked Porcello's longest outing since he tossed eight innings Aug. 1 at Cleveland.

"The fifth inning my past couple starts has been kind of a hump inning," Porcello said. "Either I get two quick outs and get through it, or I don't and it's not a good game. The fifth, sixth innings, those are big for me, to be able to pitch deeper into the game."

Porcello wasn't thinking about the Twins loss when he did it. Nor were many of the Tigers. They knew the opportunity, but they needed the win regardless.

"Right now, we can't worry about anybody else," said Bobby Seay, who helped set up Fernando Rodney's 31st save. "We just have to worry about the task at hand."

Peralta drove in Cleveland's early run, but he also helped set up the two Tigers runs that put Detroit ahead for good. After Miguel Cabrera's first-inning sacrifice fly tied the game, Peralta's double-error plated Cabrera in the fourth and set up Wilkin Ramirez's ensuing sacrifice fly. Magglio Ordonez's seventh-inning RBI single capped the scoring.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Tigers 4 Indians 2
Porcello strong as Tigers increase their lead over Twins
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Mark it well.

At some point in this process of the Tigers trying to finish first, there will come a day they'll look back on -- if they're successful, that is -- as the biggest day.

The day after which the division really was their's to win.

It might come later. It might not come at all. But Wednesday could very well have been the biggest day, so far.

That's because, with a two-run lead, the bases empty, and one strike to go in their game against the White Sox, the second-place Twins lost.

And the Tigers took advantage of the opportunity with a 4-2 triumph over the Indians, restoring their lead to 4 ½ games.

With 30 games remaining, anything can still happen. But with Joe Nathan blowing that save for the Twins, the plus side of anything already has.

In any case, Gerald Laird became the first Tiger to refer to the driver's seat.

"It's starting to feel more and more like we're in the driver's seat," he said. "You come in early, watch the Twins lose, and to capitalize on that shows we have a lot of guys in here who are hungry, and excited to be in this situation."

To make the Twins pay a higher price, of course, the Tigers had to get past the Indians, whose third baseman Jhonny Peralta made three of his team's five errors.

But the Tigers didn't have an easy time all the same.

Once again, their just-enough offense proved to be just that, and their pitching prevailed. What bodes well, however, is that Rick Porcello (12-8) didn't just get by, he pitched a strong game for his second consecutive victory.

Porcello hadn't won two consecutive starts since mid-June, so it looks like the rest he got around the All-Star break, and the way the Tigers have been careful with his innings, indeed paid off.

With the victory, Porcello also became the first Tiger ever to win 12 games before his 21st birthday, which isn't until December.

"A lot of people questioned it, but I think the rest (16 days between starts in July) did him good," Jim Leyland said. "He's growing in leaps and bounds."

The only damage off Porcello was a first-inning run on a single-wild pitch-single combination, as well as Travis Hafner's leadoff home run in the eighth.

The Tigers, meanwhile, answered with a run in the first on Miguel Cabrera's sacrifice fly; two more in the fourth with help from Peralta's less-than-golden glove, and one more in the seventh on a double by Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordonez's single to right.

The Indians put together a threat in the ninth against Fernando Rodney, but he got out of it for his 31st save

Around the horn

Jarrod Washburn downplayed a Fox Sports report he may be struggling because of a sore left knee.

In six starts for the Tigers, Washburn is 1-2 with a 6.81 ERA. In his last start, he allowed six runs in the first inning to the Rays.

"It's not new news," he said. "It's been bothering me for 3 to 4 months."

But not to the extent, at least so far, that he's had to consider missing any starts.

Posted: Sept. 3, 2009
DETROIT 4, CLEVELAND 2
Porcello's 12th win 'pretty cool'
Tigers' 4-2 victory extends lead in Central to 4 1/2

BY SHAWN WINDSOR
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

The tendency is to compare this current playoff chase to the summer of 2006. That is understandable when considering that both seasons share come-from-behind rallies, late-inning miracles and spectacular plays at centerfield and third base.

CLICK HERE FOR BOX SCORE

Yet as the Tigers make their way into the stretch that will determine who gets to the postseason, a unique story line is blossoming. A 20-year-old won his 12th game of the year Wednesday night as Detroit beat Cleveland, 4-2. The victory set a franchise record for most wins in a season for a pitcher that age or younger.

"Pretty cool," he said.

Pretty cool indeed.

On a night when division rival Minnesota gave Detroit a chance to extend its lead -- the Twins blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth earlier in the day -- a rookie pitcher who prefers to deflect attention delivered one effortless sinker after another. So fluid was his motion that when manager Jim Leyland finally pulled Porcello in the eighth, he'd thrown only 80 pitches.

"He's just done a wonderful job for us," Leyland said.

And yet?

"I think he is still a little starstruck."

In other words, he can get better. A lot better.

But that is jumping ahead. At the moment, the Tigers are 4 1/2 games up on the Twins. And a young sinkerballer is a big part of the reason why.

Lately, so are a couple of veteran hitters. After Wednesday’s victory, Magglio Ordoñez’s batting average is .337 the last 30 games. He had three hits against Cleveland and drove in a run. He may not possess the power he once did, but he is beginning to spray singles with some consistency.

“He is a professional hitter,” Leyland said. “He keeps innings going. He got a big hit tonight. If we can use him to keep throwing hits in there, and keep getting Cabrera up there with men on base, that’s a real positive for us.”

Another hitter finding his groove is Placido Polanco, who is hitting .302 the last 40 games and .438 the last four.

“He’s swinging the bat real well,” Leyland said.

Add in a few timely at-bats from guys like Wilken Ramirez -- a rookie who made his third start in Detroit and responded with a single and an RBI -- and the makings of a fruitful playoff chase begin taking hold. Spend a few minutes in the clubhouse and the realization is obvious.

“Guys are loose,” said catcher Gerald Laird, “no one picked us to win.”

That may explain why staff ace Justin Verlander and pitcher Jeremy Bonderman were running around the clubhouse chasing a remote control helicopter zipping through the air.

“You got Detroit Metro Airport in our locker room,” joked Laird. “We’re trying to dodge helicopters on our way to the shower.”

Can you blame them?

Contact SHAWN WINDSOR: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com.

Polanco comes through for Tigers win
Victory in 10th extends lead in AL Central to five games

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/03/09 4:32 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/03/09 6:23 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Placido Polanco is making a habit out of these go-ahead RBIs. Unlike Sunday's homer, though, his big play Thursday was a 10th-inning sacrifice fly to finish off the Tigers' 4-3 win over the Indians, so he had to bear the brunt of the celebration afterward.

With the Tigers, walk-off celebrations include a punch or two from slugger Miguel Cabrera. With a series sweep over the Indians and a five-game lead in the American League Central over the idle Twins, those celebrations -- and the shots that go with them -- get a little bigger.

"When you have a teammate like Miggy, it's really dangerous," Polanco said. "He was pounding that right rib. But I got him [back] in the [clubhouse] kitchen."

Cabrera laughed when asked about that.

"You saw that, huh?" he said as he threw some combination jabs in the air. "Big win. Big win."

It wouldn't have been a debilitating loss in terms of the standings, obviously, but it would've been an opportunity missed. It was more the nature of the win, and the Indians rally the Tigers took and overcame, that made it so important.

Moreover, on a day when the Tigers didn't have much offense against Indians starter Fausto Carmona, despite his five walks over 6 1/3 innings, it was the opportunity they converted in extra innings when Rafael Perez couldn't regain his command after an intentional walk.

For 6 1/3 innings, the only run of the game was on Curtis Granderson's leadoff homer in the opening inning. Carmona didn't allow a hit from the second inning until the seventh, when he paid for two walks with a Clete Thomas two-run triple. Nate Robertson, armed with a nasty sharp slider and an effective offspeed pitch, had one of his best outings in a couple years to leave on the upside of a pitching duel.

"He's a different pitcher than we saw last year or two years ago," Indians manager Eric Wedge said of Robertson and his six scoreless innings. "He really had it working today. That's the best we've seen him throw in a while."

A day after the Twins blew a late lead to the White Sox with two outs in the ninth, the Tigers had a 3-0 lead and needed four outs for what looked like an easy victory. Fu-Te Ni just retired Grady Sizemore for the second out of the eighth and had an 0-2 count on Jamey Carroll, whose squibber up the middle caught Ni off balance for an infield single.

A more fortunate roll, and Ni might've been out of the inning. After Asdrubal Cabrera's RBI single and Shin-Soo Choo's two-run double, both on two-strike pitches, Ni was out of the game with a tie score.

"I was trying to get him to get that breaking ball away off the plate," catcher Alex Avila said. "It just came out of his hand a little flat. That's going to happen. He made some really good pitches to Cabrera and to Carroll. They just happened to get in there."

After Zach Miner hit Jhonny Peralta with a 2-2 pitch to put another runner on for Matt LaPorta, it could've been worse. The Indians were a hit away from pulling ahead and going to their late-inning relievers. Miner and the Tigers were still thinking they had this game if they could just get out of that one jam.

"The biggest thing was we get last at-bat here, and we've been playing well at home," Miner said. "We know that. So you have that extra confidence. As long as we didn't give up that fourth run; that might've been a little deflating. You just try to keep the team in it. The way we've been swinging the bats lately, you get that feeling that eventually we're going to pull through, hopefully sooner than later."

To Miner, the key was simply not giving up a hit there to drive in the fourth run. Once he retired LaPorta to end the eighth, he didn't have to worry about it. His lone baserunner over the next couple innings, Michael Brantley, was thrown out in the ninth trying to steal second base on late-inning catcher Gerald Laird.

"The real momentum changer was Zach Miner," manager Jim Leyland said.

It took until the 10th, but once Ryan Raburn doubled to the out-of-town scoreboard, they were set to pull through. Perez made the obvious choice to intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera, but then he couldn't get his control back, unintentionally walking Magglio Ordonez on five pitches to move Raburn to third and load the bases.

From there, Polanco just needed a loft shot to get Raburn in.

"I liked the fact that I had the infield in and the winning run on," Polanco said. "I looked to maybe get [a pitch] up, put the ball in play, and chances are, something good's going to happen."

The sacrifice fly was good, as was the extra half-game in the standings. The body blow from Cabrera, maybe not.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Verlander wins 16th as Tigers pad lead
Bats rally in ninth against Rays' bullpen to cash in gem

By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com

09/04/09 10:40 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/05/09 2:00 AM ET

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ST. PETERSBURG -- One is three years removed from winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award, and the other is making a solid case to claim the honor this season.

Together, the Tigers' Justin Verlander and the Rays' Jeff Niemann combined to hurl eight innings of brilliant baseball on Friday night, breezing through lineups and constantly one-upping each other to put together a beautiful pitchers' duel.

Then the ninth inning happened, and any poetry and elegance was replaced by hard smashes, mistake pitches and sheer run production.

That's a battle the Tigers ended up winning.

Detroit opened up the frame by scoring three runs off three Rays relievers, and although Tampa Bay made Fernando Rodney sweat it out in the bottom half, the Tigers prevailed with a 4-3 win in front of 18,596 at Tropicana Field -- a place they had lost six of their previous seven.

Thanks to a loss by the Twins, Detroit -- winners of four straight -- moved a season-high six games up in the American League Central with 28 left to play.

"Verlander and Niemann were the key, just like it is every night," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said about the matchup, which also played itself out on Sunday, with Verlander also being the winner. "Whoever pitches the best normally wins. They were both brilliant."

With runners on first and second and one out in the top of the ninth, Adam Everett hit a first-pitch single to left field off J.P. Howell to give the Tigers their first lead. Curtis Granderson then singled to the right side off Randy Choate and Placido Polanco hit a sacrifice fly off Russ Springer to plate two more runs and provide some cushion.

That cushion was only temporary, though.

In the bottom half, Rodney -- who hadn't given up an earned run since Aug. 9 -- threw 10 of his first 13 pitches for balls, allowed Jason Bartlett to advance to second without even looking and gave up an RBI single to Carlos Pena and a two-out, run-scoring double to Evan Longoria to make it a one-run game.

But with runners on second and third and two outs, he got pinch-hitter Willy Aybar to ground out to first base and notch his 32nd save.

"He couldn't throw the ball over the plate, and that's the kiss of death," Leyland said. "But I'm going to give him a day off [on Saturday]. I have a sneaking suspicion he may need a day off."

Added Rodney: "There's a lot of emotion out there, you know? I lost my control a little bit."

The Rays got their only run off Verlander on a double by Longoria in the second. But after that, the Tigers' 26-year-old right-hander retired 10 of his next 11 batters and finished giving up four hits and a walk while striking out seven to move back into a tie for the AL lead with his 16th win.

"I'm not worried about 16, I'm worried about one, and that's today," said Verlander, whose ERA is 2.64 since April 27. "And even if I didn't get the win today, if we came out with the 'W,' I'd be more than happy. I did what I had to. Niemann threw the ball outstanding once again. I knew coming in it was going to be a tough game."

The game proved tough on Verlander's pitch count, which finished at 126 -- with 85 of those being strikes. In 24 of Verlander's 29 starts, he's thrown at least 100 pitches, and 14 of those were 115-plus.

Leyland acknowledged that he's worried about fatigue at this point in the season for Verlander, but he countered by saying, "They used to sneeze at [125 pitches]."

Besides, "I consider myself an old-school-type pitcher," said Verlander, who leads the league in strikeouts, is tied for first in starts and ranks third in innings pitched.

Joe Maddon thinks he's a throwback, too.

"His stuff plays from about 1850 to present day," the Rays' skipper said. "He's an animal. He has great stuff. He pitches with a lot of enthusiasm and intensity."

Detroit was clueless in its second confrontation in five days against Niemann, who hurled seven innings of two-run ball against the Tigers on Sunday.

Niemann had retired 14 of 15 hitters and 10 in a row until there were two outs in the top of the sixth. But that's when the imposing 6-foot-9 righty made his only mistake of the night -- a 3-2 hanging breaking ball to Miguel Cabrera that the Tigers first baseman hit out to left field to tie the game at 1 and give him 28 home runs on the year.

Niemann left after 7 2/3 innings, giving up six hits and two walks while striking out six and throwing 115 pitches -- 76 for strikes.

"We battled every at-bat," said Cabrera, who finished 2-for-4 and has 10 home runs and 34 RBIs since the All-Star break. "I'm glad we won that game today because Verlander pitched a great game, too, you know? It was two pitchers on the mound who are great pitchers. You face guys like that, you have to try to make them work and try to hit a good pitch."

Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers bail out Galarraga against Rays
Righty's struggles wiped away by Detroit's late rally

By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com

09/05/09 10:22 PM ET
updated: 09/06/09 12:40 AM ET

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ST. PETERSBURG -- It was just one of 162, as they say, but Saturday night provided the type of win the Tigers would love to duplicate over and over again, because it could lead to a very eventful October.

Not the beginning of the game, per se -- when starter Armando Galarraga put the Tigers in a deep hole before making an exit in the third inning.

It's what happened after the fact, when the bullpen blanked the Rays through six innings and the offense combined to score five runs in the seventh and eighth en route to an 8-6 win in front of a sold-out crowd of 36,973 at Tropicana Field.

With its fifth straight win, Detroit moved a season-high 13 games over .500 and kept its six-game lead over the victorious Twins in the American League Central.

"That's a nice win for us," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland, whose team came into this series a mediocre-at-best 27-39 on the road. "They had a nice crowd, had everything going for them ... and for our guys to hang in there and battle back and assure ourselves two out of three down here, that's pretty good. It didn't look too good there for a while."

With the calendar turned to September, the Tigers' clubhouse is especially crowded with extra players these days. And perhaps that's what makes this win most satisfying -- the fact that practically everybody contributed.

There was Alex Avila, hitting a two-run homer off James Shields to eventually knock him out of the game in the seventh and bring the deficit to 6-5 -- before Placido Polanco tied it with an RBI single.

"That home run definitely turned the momentum of tonight around," said Rays manager Joe Maddon, whose club has lost four of its last five and is sinking in the playoff race.

There was Marcus Thames, pinch-hitting with one out and the bases loaded in a tied game in the eighth and coming through with an RBI single to give the Tigers their second lead of the game.

And then there was shortstop Adam Everett, who didn't start on Saturday but emerged off the bench after Thames and perfected a suicide squeeze off Dan Wheeler to score Clete Thomas and give Detroit some integral insurance.

Eight Tigers recorded hits, and a different player scored each run.

"I don't know how many guys we have on the roster right now, but it seems like we use every single guy," Everett said. "Everybody's contributing, and that's what it's going to take."

Perhaps no entity came up bigger than the Fernando Rodney-less bullpen, as Eddie Bonine, Fu-Te Ni, Jeremy Bonderman -- making his second Major League appearance of the year and his first since June 8 -- Bobby Seay and Zach Miner all set the stage for a perfect ninth inning by Brandon Lyon.

"I think the bullpen gave us confidence," Leyland said. "The way we pitched, we owed it to them, really, to get something on the board the way they kept holding them off, because that's not an easy thing to do."

But there was one negative, and that revolved around the efforts of a perhaps-still-injured Galarraga.

The 27-year-old right-hander was originally supposed to make a precautionary start at Triple-A Toledo on Friday because of some right elbow inflammation, but Jarrod Washburn's sore left knee brought Galarraga to the big leagues on Saturday instead.

Galarraga struggled from the get-go, putting the Tigers in a 4-1 hole after a 25-pitch first inning in which he gave up a sacrifice fly to Pat Burrell and a three-run homer to the next batter, Evan Longoria. In a 4-3 game in the third, Galarraga put the first two runners on and gave up an RBI single to Carlos Pena. Burrell then followed suit by bringing in another run with a sacrifice fly and ending Galarraga's sluggish outing.

That short outing saw him use 54 pitches -- only 28 of them strikes -- to get through 2 1/3 innings, a span in which he gave up six runs on four hits and three walks.

The Tigers have options in the rotation now, as Nate Robertson has looked good in his last two starts, so Leyland said he's going to talk to Galarraga and further evaluate the team's options in the starting staff moving forward.

"I don't know if there was any rust on him, but the arm slot was underneath him sometimes," Leyland said. "It's a little concerning, obviously."

But not to worry. The Tigers came back, and they did it the same way they did it in a series-opening win on Friday -- by attacking the Rays' bullpen late.

All of the contests in Detroit's five-game winning streak have been decided by three runs or less, and that's another sign of a first-place team -- winning close ballgames.

"It's a team win," Avila said. "That's how you win games in the playoffs. When you get everybody contributing, you can't ask for anything better than that."

Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers sweep behind Inge's heroics
Slugger ropes go-ahead grand slam in ninth inning

By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com

09/06/09 4:31 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/06/09 7:42 PM ET

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ST. PETERSBURG -- In comparison to Kirk Gibson's heroics in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, what Brandon Inge did against the Rays on Sunday afternoon falls a bit short.

But after striking out in his previous three at-bats, while nursing a still-gimpy knee and in a big spot, that's whose words the Tigers' third baseman was channeling.

"The one thing he told me that kind of stuck with me early in my career was, 'I don't care if you have three [bad] at-bats,'" Inge recalled about Gibson, who was part of the Tigers' coaching staff from 2003-05. "'As long as you can remember that that very last at-bat is going to be the one that makes a huge difference in the game.'"

That was exactly the case in Sunday's series finale.

Trailing by two in the ninth, Inge came up big with a grand slam to left field that spoiled a fantastic Major League debut by Rays starter Wade Davis and gave Detroit a thrilling 5-3 win over the Rays in front of 28,059 at Tropicana Field.

"When you're a home run threat, you never know when they're going to strike," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

The clutch homer, and a solid eight-inning start by Edwin Jackson in his first start against his former team, gave the Tigers their first sweep at Tropicana Field, granted them a sixth straight win and moved them a season-high seven games up in the American League Central after the Twins' 3-1 loss to the Indians.

During the Tigers' winning streak, all of their games have been decided by three runs or less.

"That's just the kind of ball we've been playing the past few series," said Jackson. "Hopefully it's just a testament to how September is going to play out. Right now, everybody's having fun, everybody's loose, and we're out there like little kids again."

Trailing, 3-1, in the top of the ninth, four Rays relievers toed the rubber early on, but none of them were very effective, as the Tigers loaded the bases with one out. Then, while facing Russ Springer, Inge got a 2-2 slider and roped it over the left-field fence for his second grand slam of the season and fifth of his career.

"I was just like, 'Relax, try to get on top of the ball, and just let it get a little bit deeper,'" Inge said. "And then when it was a slider, I kind of saw it early enough, and I knew by trying to stay back, it allowed me to go out and get the slider instead of missing underneath the fastball."

The Rays, losers of five of their past six, are sinking in the playoff race, and their bullpen is in shambles. Since Aug. 7, Tampa Bay's relievers have gone 2-8 while blowing a Major League-leading eight saves in 12 chances.

"When you have leads and you can't hold leads late, that's that part of the game that is tough to endure," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

The Tigers don't have that problem.

At least they didn't on Sunday, when closer Fernando Rodney was given a second day off and Brandon Lyon -- who notched 26 saves for the D-backs last year -- pitched his second straight perfect ninth inning, thanks in large part to a slick barehanded play by the righty for the second out of the inning.

"You come into any game like that, it doesn't matter really the inning, you feel a little excitement getting out there late in games like that," Lyon said. "I'm just happy we got out here winning three games. It's huge for us on the road."

For the first seven innings, though, it was all about Davis, the rookie who's taking the rotation spot of recently-traded Scott Kazmir.

The 23-year-old right-hander, who retired 13 of his first 14 batters, as well as his final four, finishing in line for the win by scattering one run on three hits and a walk while striking out nine -- a record by a Rays pitcher making his debut -- in seven innings.

"He has great stuff, man," said Aubrey Huff, another former Ray, who hit a home run, his first with Detroit, in the second inning. "His fastball kind of reminds me of an old Aaron Harang fastball. It's kind of like a bowling ball, it gets on you and stays on a nice point.

"He's throwing 90, 92, and it looks like it's 97."

According to Leyland, the real hero of the night was Jackson, who went out for the eighth inning with 106 pitches already logged but got through the frame and kept his team in the ballgame despite facing a tough opponent.

In seven starts against the AL East this year, Jackson is 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA.

"I thought he was tremendous, and that's what gave us a chance to win the ballgame," Leyland said. "They got some early on us there after we took the 1-0 lead, but he just buckled down and pitched an absolutely tremendous ballgame."

The Tigers came into this series 27-39 on the road, and after falling behind by two going into the ninth, it could've been real easy for them to pack it in and get ready for a three-game series in Kansas City.

But the Tigers never settled, and that's what Leyland loves most.

"The only way you beat those real good ones is to outcompete them," Leyland said.

"You have to say, 'Look, he might be the best, but I'm going to battle him today, and if I get one hit, it might be the one that wins the ballgame for us.'"

Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Comeback kids: Inge's slam in the ninth lifts Tigers to a sweep
Lynn Henning / The Detroit News

St. Petersburg, Fla.-- It was not to be believed, but then not a lot about the Tigers' 2009 season has always made sense.

Down 3-1 in the ninth, and seemingly ready to accept a series victory against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Tigers instead used Brandon Inge's one-out grand slam home run to beat the Rays, 5-3, and complete their first-ever series sweep at Tropicana Field.

The Tigers' rally was sudden and hardly anticipated on a day when they came to bat in the ninth with only four hits.

But after Miguel Cabrera drew a one-out walk, Marcus Thames worked another walk that came ahead of a bloop single to right by Magglio Ordonez that loaded the bases.

Inge had struck out in his three previous at-bats and was down 1-and-2 before he got a 2-2 hanging slider from reliever Russ Springer and drove it deep into the bleachers in left-center for his fifth career grand slam.

The Tigers have now won six consecutive games, are 75-61 on the season, and moved their division lead to seven games.

Edwin Jackson was the surprise winner. He went eight innings and allowed six hits, one of them on Evan Longoria's 28th home run of the season.

Brandon Lyon finished up to get the save.

The Tigers' only run before the ninth came on Aubrey Huff's home run in the second off rookie right-hander Wade Davis, who had an otherwise tremendous big-league debut.

Davis struck out the side in the first and second innings. The Tigers' lone ball hit in fair territory during those first two innings was Huff's first home run since joining the Tigers 20 days ago.

The Tigers now head to Kansas City for a three-game series that begins Tuesday.

lynn.henning@detnews.com

Tigers' six-game roll ends at KC
Early lead dissipates for Porcello, Detroit bullpen

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/08/09 11:05 PM ET
UPDATED: 09/09/09 1:06 AM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- The Tigers had a six-game winning streak, three straight road wins and a three-run lead midway through Tuesday night's series opener against the Royals. They had rookie pitcher Rick Porcello seemingly gaining command, a bullpen on a roll and a chance to gain another game in the American League Central standings.

Four innings and a 7-5 loss later, they had just about as much disbelief as anyone else.

"Well," manager Jim Leyland said, "I guess sometimes you're just not supposed to win a game."

That doesn't necessarily mean they shouldn't have won the game.

"We didn't play very well," Leyland continued. "We had our chances to win the game, but we didn't."

A shutdown inning in the bottom of the fifth might've done it. A seventh-inning, two-strike breaking ball from Bobby Seay that didn't wander so far inside on Mitch Maier might have. So, too, would a catch from right fielder Clete Thomas at the wall in foul territory, though it would've been difficult.

They couldn't get it. As a result, their lead in the division remained 6 1/2 games on a night when the White Sox and Twins both lost, a night that gave another example why scoreboard-watching can be a fruitless hobby in early September, especially in a division where the Tigers can't seem to completely pull away.

"They've got a lot of pressure on them. All first-place clubs do," said Royals manager Trey Hillman, whose team won back-to-back home games for the first time since in more than two months. "We don't specifically have any pressure on us, but we still have the responsibility to do it the right way."

Whether this was a night of pressure for the Tigers is debatable, especially after leading early. Aubrey Huff's RBI single extended Detroit's lead to 5-2 with a chance to add on more with the bases loaded before Hillman replaced Bruce Chen with reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta.

The last time Brandon Inge came up with the bases loaded, he powered the Tigers to victory. This time, Yabuta fell behind before getting Inge to ground out on a 3-1 pitch. Still, it seemed to matter little, with Porcello having seemingly found his way to pound Royals hitters into the ground with his sinker.

Two doubles and two runs later, the Tigers carried a one-run lead and had to feel fortunate at that after a pair of fly balls took right fielder Magglio Ordonez to the warning track.

"Anytime we put up a couple runs, you never want to go out there and give it right back," Porcello said. "That inning was really, I think, one of the difference makers in the game, letting them back in the door really."

Porcello went out the door after a leadoff single in the seventh. Three relievers pitched for the Tigers before they finally got three outs, including one on a throw to the plate and another on a sacrifice bunt. The throw -- a dart from left fielder Ryan Raburn despite a bobble -- beat Yuniesky Betancourt to the plate as the potential tying run, but it merely delayed the rally.

Five straight Royals batters reached base safely, four of them after Betancourt made the second out of the inning. The Tigers had chances to get two of them, one more difficult than the other.

Seay, who surrendered the previous single to David DeJesus, had a 2-2 count on Mitch Maier before hitting him to put the go-ahead run on base. Leyland turned to Ryan Perry against Billy Butler, who fouled off a 99-mph fastball down the right-field line as Thomas -- having just entered the game in the middle of the inning -- gave chase.

Thomas has made his share of highlight catches at the fence, but he went crashing into foul ground as Butler's fly ball fell just shy of the seats. Thomas said later the ball "nicked" his glove.

"I kind of glanced at the wall a little too late to see where I was," Thomas said, "instead of looking up sooner."

Leyland said he had no problem with that play.

"I knew I hit it pretty good," Butler said, "but I couldn't tell if it was going to stay in or out. If he made the play, it was going to be tough."

Butler went after a decent slider from Perry on a 0-2 pitch and grounded it through the right side to score DeJesus and tie the game. Jacobs then lined a single to left off a 99-mph fastball to pull Kansas City ahead.

The loss for Seay (5-3) was the first for Detroit's bullpen since Aug. 22. It nullified an offensive outburst that included a home run and two runs scored for Raburn and two RBIs for Marcus Thames off Chen before Yabuta (1-1) shut down Detroit for 2 1/3 innings.

"They deserved to win the game," Leyland said. "They played better than we did. They had a second chance to get a big hit and they got it."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers' offense quiet in loss to Royals
Verlander denied 17th win despite strong outing

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/10/09 1:02 AM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- Jim Leyland hasn't had to use the term "blah" to describe his Tigers much lately. He did Wednesday, in part because Robinson Tejeda put his lineup to sleep.

This wasn't a ranting and raving Leyland talking about a lack of energy, but a manager talking about what a talented but mercurial young pitcher did to his squad on a night when he put everything together. Compared with the previous night, Wednesday's 5-1 loss to the Royals was a game in which the Tigers never quite felt in control, even as Tejeda and Justin Verlander dueled for six innings.

"Tonight, they just kicked our tails, basically," Leyland summarized.

After coming to town with a six-game winning streak and a firm hold on the American League Central, Detroit's command over the division has a little less cushion, too. The Tigers' second straight loss in Kansas City cost them a game in the standings, whittling their lead to 5 1/2 over the Twins and 6 1/2 over the White Sox after both teams won Wednesday.

On a date that was a numerical rarity -- 09/09/09 -- the Tigers came within a couple outs of scoring zero runs over nine innings and being shutout for the first time in a month. Alex Avila's sacrifice fly off Joakim Soria scored the run, but didn't come close to changing the outcome.

The nature of the Tigers' offense this year has left Leyland struggling at times to credit the opposing pitcher. This wasn't one of those nights.

"We just didn't muster any offense at all, and a lot of that had to do with Tejeda," Leyland said. "We've kind of had a couple blah days. That's all part of it."

Considering Verlander's 9-1 career record against the Royals, including two wins in as many meetings this year, he wasn't expected to play this part. Even on a night when he bemoaned his stuff, he put together enough to salvage a statistically solid start, six innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts. Yet the man who nearly took sole possession of the top spot in the AL in wins, had to play the role of the outpitched as much as the undersupported.

"I battled and tried to keep our guys in it," Verlander said. "That's the game of baseball. You have to tip your cap to the other guy sometimes. Tejeda threw the ball very well. The rest of the bullpen did the rest."

Most of the Tigers remembered Tejeda as the erratic former prospect from Philadelphia and Texas with nasty stuff but scattershot command, a pitcher to lay off and allow to work himself into trouble. Gerald Laird caught Tejeda with the Rangers in 2006 and 2007 and knew what his stuff resembled.

So when Laird trudged back into the dugout on a strikeout thinking he had swung through the fastball, only to find out it was a changeup, it was that kind of night.

"I could've sworn that was his heater," Laird said. "I looked up [at the scoreboard] and it was 86. I was like, 'Wow.' That's one of the better changeups I've seen. His biggest thing, when he's throwing strikes with his fastball, he's going to get a lot of swings with his changeup. That was his problem in Texas."

Others who had seen Tejeda previously, whether around the Majors or in winter ball in the Dominican, had similar praise. He struck out six of Detroit's first eight batters on his way to eight for his night, tying his career high.

Their lone solid scoring chance off of him, maybe a turning point in the game, came after Carlos Guillen doubled leading off the sixth. Miguel Cabrera's groundout, while missing an RBI chance, created a chance to tie the game with one out. But Tejeda induced a line drive to second from Aubrey Huff, eliminating the sacrifice fly opportunity, before fanning Clete Thomas on a 98 mph fastball.

"We had a shot," Leyland said, "and we hit it right at the guy."

Verlander (16-8), meanwhile, stranded seven runners over six innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the second. Compared with his usual script, where he starts out with mid-90s fastballs before building to 99-100 mph heaters later, he hit 98 mph to leadoff man David DeJesus and 100 mph four times in the second. He had to, he said.

"I did all I could with what I had tonight," Verlander said. "I wasn't very good at any aspect of the game. Fastball control wasn't there. Breaking ball was horrible. My changeup was decent. That's about it. You go out there and you know it's going to be one of those days."

It still nearly ended up a scoreless duel entering the late innings, if not for a play at the plate. Billy Butler, now 11-for-26 off Verlander, extended the third inning with one of those opposite-field doubles that has driven Tigers pitchers crazy this season.

"He was very strong tonight," Butler said of Verlander. "I would say that's why he was erratic. He was throwing very hard and had tremendous stuff and was almost throwing through his stuff. He was impressive when he had it in the zone."

Mike Jacobs saw a backup curveball and grounded it through the right side, sending Butler home. Thomas' throw went up the line, but Laird still nearly made a play out of it before the ball dribbled away from him.

"I looked and I kind of felt where the throw was, I thought he might've been right there," Laird said. "The thing is, he kind of went wider than I thought."

An insurance run off Bobby Seay and three more runs off closer Fernando Rodney, who pitched the eighth to get in some work, sealed it. But it felt over before that. It felt blah.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Double plays mar Tigers' afternoon
Momentum fizzles in KC, but lead remains 5 1/2 games

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/10/09 7:11 PM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- The stunned look on the face of Magglio Ordonez as he stood helplessly between first and second base in the ninth inning Thursday said plenty -- for the game, for the series, for the road trip.

A hard-hit Miguel Cabrera line drive down the first-base line might've been a double in a different spot. It became a double play when Royals first baseman Billy Butler snared it and stepped on the bag with Ordonez frozen. Instead of bringing the potential tying run to the plate, it put the fifth double play the Tigers hit into on the afternoon in the book, and brought up the final hitter in a 7-4 loss.

It didn't decide the game -- there were plenty of key plays to share in that -- but the final double play sure encapsulated it. A meeting of first- and last-place teams in the American League Central became a three-game sweep for the cellar-dwelling Royals. A road trip that began with a three-game sweep of the Rays ended with a 3-3 record and a reminder of the Tigers' struggles away from Comerica Park.

All that changed, though, was a half-game difference in the division standings. A Twins loss to the Blue Jays earlier on Thursday ensured the Tigers remained 5 1/2 games up, though they lost a half-game to the third-place White Sox, now six games back.

"I think we learned something from it," said Brandon Inge, whose fourth-inning ground ball to third turned into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded. "It's funny that you can learn something in the middle of September, but you can learn a lot of things. You come off a good trip in Tampa, and then all of a sudden, you come in here and you get beat.

"It's not the end of the world. It's one of those things where you just can't really hang your head at this point in the season. You can't get upset about it. You should really do the opposite of that. As a matter of fact, you should just relax and get back to basics and try to have fun again. This is the part of the season that you can either make it fun or you can make it pretty tough on yourself."

They're relaxed, Inge insisted, and they showed it Thursday morning as they shared some laughs as they took batting practice for the first time in three days because of the weather. There were obviously no smiles after the game.

They also learned something about starter Jarrod Washburn and his situation for the home stretch. His sore left knee that prompted the Tigers to skip him for a turn through the rotation last week felt no better from the rest, he indicated, but he battled through it for five innings of three-run ball to at least give Detroit a chance and prompt manager Jim Leyland to call Washburn's outing "the silver lining" of the day.

"I felt today the same way I have," Washburn said. "No different. No better. It is what it is. It's painful. I'll have to deal with it."

Once rookie Wilkin Ramirez scored twice and drove in another run over two plate appearances in the fifth and sixth innings, the Tigers appeared set to take advantage of Washburn's outing. After Inge's double play ended the fourth, Ramirez's leadoff triple set up a two-run fifth before he singled in a run and scored another to erase what was once a 3-0 deficit and pull Detroit ahead for a 4-3 lead.

Adam Everett's RBI double also gave the Tigers a chance for more, putting runners on second and third with one out and the top of Detroit's order up. Former Tiger Roman Colon, however, escaped the jam and added to Detroit's eventual total of 10 runners left on base.

Those would-be runs quickly proved to be missed opportunities once Alex Gordon hit a game-tying homer off Zach Miner (6-5) leading off the bottom of the inning. A Yuniesky Betancourt walk and David DeJesus bunt single set up Butler's ground-ball single through the left side, scoring Betancourt without a throw.

The Tigers' bullpen came to town Monday having held opponents to a .206 batting average and 20 earned runs since Aug. 13. Alberto Callaspo's ninth-inning solo homer off Eddie Bonine Wednesday marked the 11th run in seven innings off Detroit relief this series.

"The bullpen has done such a fantastic job," Leyland said. "They had a tough series. And that happens."

That was the point from many Tigers players Thursday. They just couldn't have counted on it happening here and now. They brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the seventh and eighth innings but couldn't get him any further, stranding two runners in scoring position on Curtis Granderson's seventh-inning groundout before Placido Polanco hit into a double play to end the eighth.

"It was a strange trip," Leyland said. "The good news is we played .500. The bad news is, after the start, we played .500. But you have to play the game. Nothing to talk about. They handed our tails to us, that's all."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Struggles against lefties continue in loss
Leyland calling for less scoreboard watching, sounder play

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/11/09 10:35 PM ET
updated: 09/12/09 12:34 AM ET

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DETROIT -- The out-of-town scoreboard at Comerica Park is in such a spot where it's difficult to miss, even if it attracts nothing more than passing interest early in the season. For a team in a playoff race, it's unavoidable as it looms at field level, inside the wall in right-center field.

The way the Tigers have been falling behind lately, watching that scoreboard can be maddening, especially for the manager.

Around the time the Tigers were giving up the insurance runs that would eventually loom as the difference in Friday night's 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays, the Twins were falling behind by double digits to the A's. As a result, the Tigers' four-game losing streak has cost them only a game off their lead in the American League Central, and nothing off their 5 1/2-game lead Friday.

However, it's costing manager Jim Leyland some patience.

"Well, maybe they ought to quit looking at that," Leyland said. "Maybe we're looking at that instead of what we should be looking at. We need to take care of our own stuff.

"We need to play better. We need to hit better. We need to pitch better. We need to shut some things down. It's that simple."

First and foremost on Leyland's list of things to shut down would be the struggles against left-handed pitchers.

A day after Royals southpaw Lenny DiNardo held the Tigers to two runs over five innings, Toronto's Brian Tallet seemed set to top that by retiring Detroit's first seven batters and scattering three hits through his first five innings. He struck out the side in the fifth on his way to seven for the night, tying a season high.

The Tigers eventually chased Tallet (7-9) with two hits and an RBI in the seventh, then rallied against right-hander Jeremy Accardo with three straight singles to put the potential tying run on base. Just as a breeze blowing in from left field kept a couple of early shots from the Blue Jays off Nate Robertson in the park instead of over the fence, Marcus Thames fell just short of a would-be go-ahead homer, flying out to the track in right-center.

"We gave ourselves a chance," catcher Gerald Laird said. "That's all you can ask."

Fittingly, the ball fell into right fielder Jose Bautista's glove just in front of the out-of-town scoreboard, where the Twins' fate negated it.

Tallet recorded his first quality start in six outings since July 3. With that, a Tigers team that once feasted on left-handed pitching fell to 23-19 this year versus lefty starters, compared with 52-46 against right-handers.

It isn't simply about Curtis Granderson, who went 0-for-4 against Tallet and Kelly Downs to fall to .177 this season off left-handers. They've struggled against lefties with and without him.

"We have to start doing more against left-handed pitching," Leyland said, "or they'll be taking them off the Ferris wheel to pitch against us."

Detroit's own lefty starter, Robertson, had nearly opposite fortunes, leaving in the fourth inning with a left groin strain that will likely cost him at least one start. Though Robertson (1-2) allowed six hits and five walks over 3 2/3 innings, he held Toronto scoreless until a two-run fourth thanks in part to four warning-track fly balls and an Armando Galarraga strikeout of Kevin Millar to strand two in the fourth.

Those key outs didn't last. After a hit-by-pitch to Adam Lind set up a Vernon Wells sacrifice fly in the sixth, Rod Barajas homered off Galarraga leading off the seventh. Randy Ruiz greeted Ryan Perry with a two-run shot two batters later.

"The add-on runs have killed us lately," Leyland said. "We had a shot, but you can't put yourself in that position like we have the last few games."

The bigger overall frustration for Leyland right now, though, seems to be the position in the playoff race. They've done enough to maintain command of the AL Central, which is to say that they've played pretty much even with their competitors lately while the schedule dwindles down. Detroit's magic number for eliminating the Twins dropped to 17.

Yet a day after Leyland argued that the playoff race has just started, he'd rather have them pay attention to their own end of it, without watching the size of the lead. He doesn't want guys obsessing over it, but as players said they didn't worry about the playoff race right now, Leyland seemed to worry.

"Some of these guys are a little too casual around here," Leyland said. "They need to step it up."

Right now, at least, they're in step with the rest of the division as the steps wind down. But they know that they could do better.

"We control our own destiny," Laird said. "We're driving the bus right now. Teams are coming after us. Teams are wanting to beat us. We've earned that right here in September, being in first place. We just have to play better baseball and score more runs."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers lose homer battle, some of lead
Detroit sees AL Central lead trimmed to five games

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

09/12/09 10:09 PM ET
updated: 09/13/09 12:21 AM ET

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DETROIT -- The Tigers continued their popular postgame fireworks displays on weekends into September to help give the fans something to see. They weren't counting on so many rockets into the downtown Detroit sky during the game.

The last of them, Aaron Hill's go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning to send Detroit to an 8-6 loss to Toronto on Saturday night, they could've done without.

"We just didn't keep the ball in the ballpark," manager Jim Leyland said to sum up the Tigers' fifth straight loss.

At this rate, they could be set up for quite a display down the stretch. They're hoping it doesn't include their lead in the American League Central proving combustible.

The loss whittled the Tigers' lead to five games in the American League Central. Though the Twins lost to Oakland earlier in the day, the White Sox moved up a game and took over second place with a win over the Angels. Chicago has subtracted three games from its deficit in the past week and has a chance to add All-Star hurler Jake Peavy in the coming days.

Not only is the Tigers' losing streak a season high, it's particularly ill-timed. All five losses have been to the Royals and Blue Jays, teams with sub-.500 records and no postseason hopes, and they've come before a home stretch that will determine the Tigers' fate, 2 1/2 weeks that include 13 games against the White Sox and Twins.

"I think it's a case that you never have the appreciation of how hard it is to win games up here," Leyland said, "and I think we're struggling through that a little bit right now."

Winning a game and a division are proving to be particularly hard.

When Miguel Cabrera sent Scott Richmond's full-count changeup midway up the left-field seats for a three-run homer in the fifth inning, his 29th homer on the year, the Tigers built a 6-3 lead with their third homer of the night. Curtis Granderson started the power display with his 23rd career leadoff homer, tying Lou Whitaker for the Tigers' franchise record, before Alex Avila added a two-run homer in the second.

Not only did the Tigers go scoreless the rest of the way, the Blue Jays bullpen held them hitless until the ninth, including two innings from Brandon League (3-5). By the time Brandon Inge broke up the drought with a leadoff single in the ninth, the Tigers were trailing thanks to the Blue Jays' own three-homer barrage.

The first two -- solo shots from Vernon Wells in the sixth inning and Marco Scutaro in the seventh -- came off starter Edwin Jackson, whose three homers allowed over seven innings Saturday were more than he allowed in his previous four outings combined. They brought Toronto within a run and forced Detroit's bullpen to work within the slimmest of margins.

It was an odd twist for Jackson in more ways than one. When the Tigers were building their division lead early this summer, Jackson was consistently pitching through low-scoring games with very little run support. On Saturday, with a three-run lead, he ended up with five earned runs allowed over seven innings, tying his season-high run total set May 4.

In contrast to his fastball-slider combination from earlier this year, he went early and often to the fastball Saturday, with much less of a mix.

"He's a real aggressive guy," Leyland said. "He's going to charge them. They're going to charge him. Most of the time, he wins. Some of the time, they win."

Part of Saturday's mix, Leyland said, came down to first-pitch strikes. Wells and Scutaro were both ahead in the count when they jumped on Jackson fastballs, as was Rod Barajas when he hit a two-run shot in the second.

"They were ready for the fastball all night," Jackson said, "but those two [to Wells and Scutaro] were just up."

Once Jackson left, the Blue Jays tied the game without hitting a ball out of the infield in the eighth inning. Wells' infield single, his third hit of the night, led off the rally against Brandon Lyon, whose walk to Lyle Overbay moved Wells into scoring position. Wells reached third when Cabrera chased down a popup deep in foul territory behind first base, but Lyon put Edwin Encarnacion in a 1-2 count before a breaking ball in the dirt skipped to the backstop and allowed Wells to trot home.

Not only was Hill's 32nd homer of the year the last of the night, it was the first off Fernando Rodney (2-4) in 13 1/3 innings since Aug. 9. It marked the sixth homer from Toronto hitters through two games this series.

And as the fireworks popped outside, Leyland was inside his office lamenting a game lost.

"We're not doing enough to win games," he said. "We're doing just enough to get beat."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Blue Jays 8, Tigers 6
Tigers blow lead, lose fifth straight
Ted Kulfan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- A version of Home Run Derby broke out at Comerica Park on Saturday night.

And the team that wound up hitting more of them also wound up winning the game.

Despite hitting three, it wasn't the Tigers. The Blue Jays hit four, including a tiebreaking, two-run shot by Aaron Hill off closer Fernando Rodney in the ninth inning en route to an 8-6 victory.

The defeat pushed the Tigers' losing streak to a season-high five games.

The Tigers lead the White Sox by five games and Minnesota by 5 1/2 in the American League Central. The White Sox won and the Twins lost Saturday.

"We're not doing enough to win games," manager Jim Leyland said. "We're doing just enough to get beat."

Hill's blast was his 32nd of the season. Rod Barajas, Vernon Wells and Marco Scutaro also homered for the Blue Jays.

All six Tigers runs were accounted for with home runs by Curtis Granderson (leadoff), Alex Avila (two-run) and Miguel Cabrera (three-run).

"We just didn't keep the ball in the ballpark," Leyland said.

Edwin Jackson allowed three of the Blue Jays' home runs, but he still left after seven innings with a 6-5 lead.

Brandon Lyon allowed the tying run in the eighth on a wild pitch that scored Wells from third.

Rodney came on to start the ninth and got the first two Blue Jays hitters out. But Marco Scutaro hit a bloop single and Hill followed with a home run into the left field stands.

Rodney (2-4) walked Wells before manager Jim Leyland replaced him with Fu-Te Ni. Rodney left to a chorus of boos.

"Fernando didn't pitch bad. He got two quick outs, the guy (Scutaro) blooped one in, and (Rodney) left a change up middle in and the guy (Hill) hit a homer," Leyland said. "That's just part of the game."

After Cabrera's three-run homer gave the Tigers a 6-3 lead, the Tigers had only two hits in the final four innings -- a Brandon Inge single to lead-off the ninth and Placido Polanco's single with two out.

Ryan Raburn struck out to end the game with the two runners on.

"We didn't do much at all offensively," Leyland said.

The Blue Jays did, though. Just ask Jackson, who allowed eight hits and five runs.

"They had a couple of guys who hit their share of home runs," Jackson said. "They did a good job battling and good job of swinging the bat."

ted.kulfan@detnews.com (313) 223-4606