Remember when the Tigers were beating up on Milwaukee and the Cubs ; when Minnesota and Chicago’s South Siders were a weeks-worth of wins away from even mattering?
In a division that was already about as frustrating as I thought a division could get, now we have to deal with the Twins and White Sox pretending to be competent.
It seems the Tigers are taking a cat nap before the All-Star break. They have now lost six of nine games since the Cubs series. Detroit’s ferocious felines have faltered far more than flourished since their seven game win streak.
Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, and Rick Porcello have all become merely average starters. None of the three hurlers have earned wins in their last two starts. In those six starts (two by each pitcher) the Tiger starters have accumulated a 6.00 ERA to accompany their 0-3 record.
The one positive is that they have managed 29 strikeouts in 33.1 innings.
Needless to say, the weekend series against Minnesota didn’t go well – but I’ll say it anyway. Detroit lost two of three games in the Hubert H. Humphrey Baggy-Dome.
The only win came on Friday the third.
Lucas French became the next experiment for Motown management. French made his first start of the year (third appearance) and pitched relatively well. He threw 81 pitches in four and one third innings and struck out two Minnesota hitters. He allowed two earned runs and took a no decision.
The Tigers blew a 7-2 lead in the sixth inning however. Zach Miner allowed four runners to cross the plate in his two-thirds of an inning including a home run to Joe Crede. He was accredited with another earned run when his replacement, Fu-Te Ni, allowed an inherited runner to cross the plate.
It wasn’t until the 14th inning that the eighth run finally crossed the plate and after the Twins matched that effort, it came down to the 16th. Detroit manufactured three runs in the top of 16 and when the Twinkies could only answer with one, the five hour and seven minute marathon was finally over.
Games two and three were relatively uneventful but hurtful nonetheless.
After a solid nine strikeout performance, Bobby Seay allowed an inherited runner to score and handed Edwin Jackson both a third earned run and a no decision.
Magglio Ordonez was actually the Tigers offensive hero on Saturday. – I honestly did not think I would ever utter that statement again. – The 35 year-old veteran hit both a double, this 10th of the year, and a three-run homer to left field. He accounted for all of the RBI and extra-base hits for Detroit on this day.
Hopefully, that is the start of something, but at this point I’m getting pretty tired of hoping that for Mags.
A floppy 120 foot nub-shot by Nick Punto would score the fourth run of the game and would be enough for Joe Nathan and the Twins to take the win.
I almost felt sorry for Edwin Jackson in this game. Though he did walk four and allowed two long-balls he did pitch well enough to earn a victory.
In Sunday’s rubber game, two innings told the whole story. Unfortunately the 9th frame was that inning for the Tigers.
Despite another attempt at late game heroics by Brandon Inge, a two-run homer was too little too late for the motor city.
A six run fourth inning served as the excitement for Twins fans. Rick Porcello gave up a two run blast to Justin Morneau (his second of the series) and RBI singles by both Denard Span and Delmon Young.
On Span’s grounder to the “5.5 hole” (between shortstop and third base) Shortstop Adam Everett fielded the ball cleanly and the proceeded to throw the ball over the head of second baseman Ramon Santiago. The bases-loaded error ran the Twins total up to six and that was all that was needed to win the game and the series.
Nick Blackburn was impressive. He threw a complete game, seven-hitter, which included six strikeouts and only seven hits. Other than the two-run bomb by Inge, Blackburn got through the day unscathed.
There may be a division race after all. …Especially if the Tigers’ pitching continues to struggle…