Box Score

Summary

Seems that I’ve picked the exciting games to be at such as last weeks Tiger ninth inning comeback and extra innings win and missing the blowouts such as yesterday. This one started out with the first pitch being thrown by Detroit Lions first round draft pick Calvin Johnson (it was a wild pitch) who received a standing ovation. That didn’t seem to effect Detroit and that is good because they would be facing Johan Santana who is 10-2 lifetime against them.

Mike Maroth pitched well through almost seven full innings before turning it over to Zumaya and the bullpen after a 2-out triple. The bullpen held off the Twins to allow Detroit’s hitters to win the game with Jones pitching a perfect ninth.

Offensively Detroit did very well against Santana. While not very high scoring they were in scoring position numerous times though struggling to get the single or double to drive them home. They ultimately relied on the long ball which brought in all four runs off of three HR’s. Another close game with the Tigers keeping from getting swept at home by their AL Central foes.

Pitching

Mike Maroth left the game with a standing ovation and that pretty much explains his day. He came to the ballpark knowing he was going to face a daunting task in getting the win against Johan Santana. Mike came in and played his game getting ahead of the batter the majority of the time and striking out three batters (Morneau twice). He gave up hits, some big, but that is part of his game and the Tiger defense played well behind him today to keep the run total low. This included one outfield assist at third and a picked batter on second by Pudge.

Joel Zumaya had to work hard for his inning and some change today. He wasn’t overpowering but got the job done. Twins batters stayed in the box and made him pitch strikes and worked a couple of walks from him. He stuck it out and won the day.

Todd Jones came into the ninth with the game still tied and pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning getting all balls to go pretty much directly to Placido Polanco at second base.

Hitting

Tigers sluggers were in force again today with Thames in the lineup due to the lefty on the mound and probably some due to Casey’s current slump. Three homeruns made for an exciting game with Ordonez going long to right field (with Sheffield on after a bloop single), Thames solo shot and Inge walk-off blast to left field. He cranked that one too as it was very high and still made it out of the park.

Pudge had an off day racking up three strikeouts but overall they were pretty patient and made Johan work leaving the game with 114 pitches thrown through six innings. Leyland made use of Granderson who threw down a sac-bunt to move Inge to second. Nothing came of the play but Granderson looked lost in his first at-bat today.

This was a full team win with hitters stepping up the the plate and Tiger pitchers surpressing a great offense in the Twins.