Box Score

Summary

The bottom of the Tiger lineup continued to be strong with the bottom three batters (Thames, Inge and Rabelo) combining for 6 hits, a triple and a homerun. The offense throughout the lineup was strong though and Detroit pitching held Seattle at bay through many opportunities to score. The bullpen held strong through 3.2 innings to get Justin Verlander his third win on the season.

Hopefully this is the start of another winning streak with a big series coming up this weekend in Minnesota.

Pitching

Justin Verlander got had an off-and-on outing allowing 9 hits through 5.1 innings and one walk but was able to avoid much damage by not allowing any multi-base hits. He found himself in trouble a number of times but stepped up and came out with a strikeout or pop-out when needed.

The bullpen outing consisted of Bobby Seay, Jose Mesa, Fernando Rodney and Wilfredo Ledezma. This is a lineup we are likely to see quite a bit of through the next few months and it worked out well. Seay pitched out of a jam in the sixth inning and followed it up with a strong seventh inning before Mesa was brought in to face a righty.

Ledezma had another tight inning, in the ninth, allowing a run off of a double to Jose Guillen. The Tigers had lead of 5 runs at the time but his showing had Leyland worried enough to have Todd Jones warmed up. To me it seems that Ledezma is struggling to find those out pitches he had last year as he has done a fine job getting ahead of the batter but not putting them away.

Hitting

Big day for Mike Rabelo who had his first MLB multi-hit game (with 3 hits), his first MLB RBI and first MLB triple bringing his average to .185. Brandon Inge continued his hot streak with two hits one of which was a homerun, as did Magglio Ordonez.

Placido Polanco had a 3-hit game with a walk after a couple of rough games. Sheffield stuck out as a bit of a disappointment on the day by following up a sacrafice fly by grounding into a double play then striking out with the bases loaded and two outs.

Detroit combined to hit .371 with only two walks and 5 strike outs.