MLB Team Report – Detroit Tigers – INSIDE PITCH
Jim Leyland was very interested in seeing how his Detroit Tigers would rebound from their first loss of the season.
“That was the No. 1 thing I was looking for,” Leyland said after Detroit bounced back with a 7-2 victory over Tampa Bay. “I was interested in seeing how we’d react.
“We lost a tough game (Wednesday). We could have come in (Thursday) hanging our heads, feeling sorry for ourselves.
“The thing I liked was that it was business as usual.
“There was no rah-rah stuff, nobody saying, ‘We’ve got to win this one.’ It was just a group of guys going about their business.”
Leyland had a rookie left-hander going, as Drew Smyly made his Major League debut with only his second game above the Double-A level, against tough right-hander Jeff Neimann of the Rays.
Smyly loaded the bases with nobody out in the first — two walks sandwiching a single — but worked out of it with no run scoring by getting a fly ball to shallow right plus two strikeouts.
The only run Tampa Bay scored off Smyly, who had problems throwing strikes that weren’t fastballs, came on a down-the-line home run by Carlos Pena in the third. Smyly was lifted after walking Pena to open the fifth.
The Tigers scored three in the fifth to regain control then added two in the seventh after the Rays had scored in the top of the inning to draw within a run.
“We saw a lot of good pitchers,” Leyland said. ‘You’ve got to be very satisfied to go 5-1 against the pitchers we faced — Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Matt Moore, James Shields, Neimann. Those are pretty good pitchers.”
“The depth of our lineup is what makes us good,” said Brennan Boesch, who had a pair of two-run singles.
“When you’ve got Ryan Raburn hitting ninth,” Leyland said, “that’s a pretty deep lineup.”
Now it’s the next tests … a road trip to Chicago and Kansas City.
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MLB Team Report – Detroit Tigers – NOTES, QUOTES
–LHP Drew Smyly went four innings allowing one run but is going to have to live off something besides his low-90s fastball to survive in the Major Leagues. “He did okay,” manager Jim Leyland said after Smyly’s second pro start above the Double-A level. “He’s going to have to throw some other stuff over the plate besides his fastball.”
He went walk-single-walk to open the game, earning an early visit from Leyland. “I just told him, ‘Don’t worry about giving up a run or two,’ Leyland said, ‘just don’t let the whole thing blow up on you.'” “I’ll take it,” Smyly said. “I threw a lot of pitches, but I thought I did a good job competing. In the first I was a little anxious, a little excited.”
–RHP Collin Balester calmed Tampa Bay down and earned his first victory for Detroit, throwing two innings of one-run ball. Balester, obtained during the winter from Washington for RHP Ryan Perry, didn’t allow a run after coming in with a man on and nobody out in the fifth, but he hit a batter and walked another to open the seventh and was relieved in turn. “He did a good job,” manager Jim Leyland said. “That’s why we got him, because he can do multiple things for us.”
–DH Andy Dirks got a key triple in the fifth, scoring the tying run and going on to score the middle run in a three-run rally. “I was reading the ball myself,” said Dirks, who wound up scoring on a two-run single by RF Brennan Boesch. “I took a little gamble and it paid off.”
–RF Brennan Boesch had a pair of two-run singles as Detroit closed out a 5-1 homestand Thursday with a 7-2 win over Tampa Bay. His first came to cap a three-run fifth inning and his second came off a left-handed pitcher to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead in the seventh. Boesch ripped a 1-2 pitch from LHP Jake McGee up the middle for his second hit. “That was huge,” manager Jim Leyland said. “He hits left-handers — it’s in the book, .319 over his career — and that’s pretty good.” “It was more then my birthday,” said Boesch, who turned 27 Thursday, “it makes for a happy flight to Chicago.”
–RHP Octavio Dotel was unavailable to pitch for Detroit Thursday against Tampa Bay. “His back stiffened up on him,” manager Jim Leyland said. Dotel normally would have entered in the seventh inning to protect Detroit’s 3-1 lead. Leyland used RHP Collin Balester, RHP Brayan Villarreal and LHP Phil Coke to get through the inning before turning the game over to RHPs Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde.
–RHP Justin Verlander, whose fastball has been known to reach 100-plus mph on occasion, has an invitation from Grand-Am race car driver Alex Gurney to join him for a ceremonial high-speed drive. Whether Tigers’ brass would allow its ace pitcher to whiz around the Belle Isle Grand Prix course at speeds up to 150 mph is another question. “We’ll tuck him in there, for sure,” said Gurney, a two-time Grand-Am Rolex Series champion, in town to promote the June 1-3 event. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Verlander’s Wednesday start. “He’s a big guy, but we’ll make him fit. Maybe he just might come out to the racetrack.” Among other cars, Verlander owns a Ferrari and a Mercedes-Benz roadster.
–2B Brandon Inge is eligible to come off the disabled list and join Detroit in Chicago on Saturday, but that move was “pending” entering the weekend, according to manager Jim Leyland. “He may need some more at-bats, he may not be ready,” Leyland said of Inge, who was 1-for-6 after two games of a projected three-game rehab assignment. Inge is coming off a strained groin, and when he returns will primarily play second base against left-handed pitchers.
BY THE NUMBERS: 6 — Members of the 2010 draft to make their Major League pitching debut after LHP Drew Smyly started Thursday for Detroit. No position player from that draft has yet to appear in the Majors.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We lost a tough game (Wednesday). We could have come in (Thursday) hanging our heads, feeling sorry for ourselves. The thing I liked was that it was business as usual. There was no rah-rah stuff, nobody saying, ‘We’ve got to win this one.’ It was just a group of guys going about their business.” — Manager Jim Leyland, who said the biggest thing he was looking for Thursday was how his team was going to handle losing its first game of the season. Detroit responded with a 7-2 win over Tampa Bay.
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MLB Team Report – Detroit Tigers – ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
RHP Octavio Dotel was unavailable to pitch April 12. “His back stiffened up on him,” manager Jim Leyland said.
–INF Brandon Inge (left groin strain) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 30. He began a rehab assignment with Class AAA Toledo on April 10. He’s eligible to come off the disabled list and join Detroit in Chicago on April 14, but that move was “pending” entering the weekend, according to manager Jim Leyland. “He may need some more at-bats, he may not be ready.”
–INF Ramon Santiago (illness) was scratched from the lineup April 10.
–RHP Max Scherzer (illness) was sent home from the ballpark April 10. He is due to start April 13.
–RHP Doug Fister (strained left ribcage muscle) went on the 15-day disabled list April 9. The timetable for his return is unknown.
–RHP Luis Marte (left hamstring strain) went on the 15-day disabled list April 3.
–RHP Al Alburquerque (right elbow surgery in December 2011) went on the 15-day disabled list April 3. He hopes to resume throwing in early April, but he won’t be back with the Tigers before midseason.
–C/DH Victor Martinez (microfracture left knee surgery in January 2012) went on the 60-day disabled list March 12. He will miss the entire season.
ROTATION:
RHP Justin Verlander
RHP Max Scherzer
RHP Rick Porcello
LHP Drew Smyly
RHP Brayan Villarreal
BULLPEN:
RHP Jose Valverde (closer)
RHP Joaquin Benoit
RHP Octavio Dotel
LHP Phil Coke
LHP Daniel Schlereth
RHP Collin Balester
CATCHERS:
Alex Avila
Gerald Laird
INFIELDERS:
1B Prince Fielder
2B Ryan Raburn
SS Jhonny Peralta
3B Miguel Cabrera
INF Ramon Santiago
INF Danny Worth
UT Don Kelly
OUTFIELDERS:
LF Delmon Young
CF Austin Jackson
RF Brennan Boesch
OF Andy Dirks
OF Clete Thomas
