Tigers Bullpen Throws 4 Shutout Innings in a 5-3 Win

[gladdyontherise]

The Detroit Tigers beat the Tampa Bay Rays today 5-3.

After the Tigers trailed 1-0 early, they responded in the 4th inning with a single by Prince Fielder, then Delmon Young reached base on a fielding error, then Alex Avila hit a single to load the bases with no outs for Ryan Raburn who hit a single to score Fielder and tied the game 1-1.

The Tigers came back in the 5th inning with a single by Quintin Berry and single by Miguel Cabrera that advanced Berry to 3rd base, then Prince Fielder was hit-by-the-pitch to load the bases with no outs for Delmon Young who hit a sacrifice fly to score Berry and Miguel Cabrera advanced to 3rd base. Alex Avila came up next and hit a sacrifice fly of his own to score Cabrera and the Tigers took a 3-1 lead.

Drew Smyly quickly gave up 2 runs to tie the game at 3-3, but the Tigers offense came right back as well in the 6th inning after a leadoff double by Don Kelly, then he advanced to 3rd base on a sacrifice bunt by Ramon Santiago, and Austin Jackson drove Kelly in with a single. After Jackson advanced to 2nd base on a wild pitch, Miguel Cabrera was intentionally walked, then Prince Fielder hit a single to drive in Jackson and the Tigers took a 5-3 lead.

Drew Smyly was done after 5 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 4 batters; he won his 3rd game of the season.

Brayan Villarreal struck out all 3 batters he faced in a scoreless 6th inning

Phil Coke came in and pitched a scoreless 7th inning, then Joaquin Benoit pitched a scoreless 8th inning.

Jose Valverde came in and pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning to earn his 15th save of the season and got the Tigers the win, and a series victory

The Tigers open up a 4 game home series tommorrow with the Minnesota Twins as Doug Fister (1-5 3.91 ERA) pitches against Liam Hendriks (0-5 6.82 ERA).

Picture credit: mlive.com
Follow us on Twitter: @FearTheShadow


More...

[OriolesFan]

Thanks Tigers for helping out the "Birds". The "Birds" have been struggling lately, so it's really nice to see other teams beating the "other" A L EAST teams.