After a five-game skid, the Tigers finally remembered how to win. Granted, the pressure is down a bit right now as the Tigers, ten games over .500, are the only team in the division with a winning record. There are still some very important games left on the schedule and Detroit should not get too lackadaisical.
On Sunday, the Tigers scored three insurance runs in the eighth inning to make sure they walked away the victors. In the previous five games, the Tigers had been swept by Kansas City, who came in with the worst record in the AL, and then lost two of three to the Toronto Blue Jays, who were 11 games under the .500 mark.
The primary story here is the second notable bullpen breakdown of the season. During the five-game losing streak, the motor city’s relievers got mauled. In that time-frame, the Detroit bullpen allowed 18 earned runs. The Detroit relief corps has been within the top five in the AL in fewest runs allowed all season, but during this five games span they became one of the worst anywhere.
In the same time-frame, Tigers starters ERA was a more slightly elevated 4.88 – Due largely in part to Edwin Jackson’s rough start on Saturday. Jackson allowed five earned runs over seven innings in the 8-6 loss to the Jays. It was the bullpen however who took the loss.
In the 7-2 win on Sunday, little Ricky Porcello pitched six strong innings before handing the ball off to the bewildered bullpen with a two run lead. On this day, all three relievers – including Fernando Rodney who had allowed five earned runs in his last three appearances – pitched scoreless frames and helped the 20 year-old sinker-baller collect win number 13.
Hopefully, the hard times will have passed and, like I said the last time this happened, the bullpen will have gotten their struggles out of their system. With one game left against Toronto, Detroit has a chance to split this series before they go ‘all medieval’ on the Royals in the name of vindication starting Tuesday.
Following the KC series, 12 of the next 15 games will be against the Twins and White Sox. The bullpen is going to need to be sharp. With a five and a half-game lead, the Tigers do not need to press too hard to win the division; but do need to play better than they have in the last six games.
There have been a couple of bright spots in the last week however.
Back-up catcher Alex Avila hit his fifth long-ball in 48 at-bats since being called up on the 6th of August. He has proven to be and threat with the bat, but his glove may still need some work. Avila has thrown out only two of twelve would-be-base-stealers and also has three pass balls in only 18 games. However, the 22 year-old has shown great potential as a major league hitter.
Brandon Inge has brought his batting average up a few points with some clutch hits lately. As he suffers from multiple small tears in tendons in his knees, Inge’s batting average has dropped nearly 30 points. Inge had 21 homers and 57 RBI at the All Star break and has accumulated only six more homers and 19 RBI since. Hopefully his bat will continue to be productive as the games begin to matter that much more.
Miguel Cabrera has continued to be productive and his average has remained steady at around .335 and he now has 29 homers and 89 RBI on the season.
Aubrey Huff has now reached the 80 RBI mark himself. Huff now has seven RBI in only 31 at-bats in September. That is a bright spot I am very happy to see.
Hopefully the recent bullpen struggles have now passed and the Tigers can start whittling down their magic numbers.
