Jeremy Bonderman showed Saturday that he should be taken seriously again. He left the game after the fifth inning with a 4-1 lead and confidence in the in his offense.
He left due to an elevated pitch count (91 pitches through five innings) which resulted largely from the five strikeouts and two walks handed to Indians hitters.
A fired up Bonderman after a solid performance by his teammates. Photo: Reuters and USA Today
Bonderman made one start in 2009 and did little more than throw batting practice to the Chicago White Sox. Last season he struggled with getting his velocity back near 90 MPH and regaining any sort of bite on his slider. The velocity on his fastball was back up at 90+ throughout the game and his corner-to-corner command complimented the rise in velocity.
Incorporating a solid sinker to his repertoire should help him keep batters fooled this season. Historically, Bonderman was a fastball/ slider pitcher who would throw in an occasional change-up which only meant taking about 5-7 MPH off his mid-to-low nineties fastball.
Bondermans final line read: Five innings pitched, only One Hit, One Run (which was earned), Two walks, Five Strikeouts, One Wild Pitch – which accounted for the earned run, no home runs allowed, and 91 total pitches (of which 59 were strikes).
If this is any foreshadowing, the Tigers might actually have a better starting rotation than what appeared on paper. Dontrelle Willis threw a quality start with two earned runs through six innings accompanied by four strikeouts and only two walks.
Max Scherzer allowed only one hit and no runs in his six innings Wednesday. He fanned three while walking two. Unfortunately the bullpen took their first day off since spring training and the Tigers fell to Kansas City, but Scherzer’s performance made waves.
Overall, so far so good. I’m glad to see Bonderman healthy again.
