Well, Armando Galarraga has done it again. The young pitcher is 2-0 with 1 no decision in his first three starts with the Detroit Tigers. He pitched a no hitter through six innings earlier today and only received a no decision because he gave up three runs in the seventh before being replaced by Aquilino López. The relief pitchers for Detroit have done their job well. In this Saturday afternoon game at Comerica Park, against the Los Angeles Angels, the Tigers relied on López, as well as Denny Bautista and closer, Todd Jones, who helped to get the job done.
Galarraga doesn’t seem too upset at his no decision though and that is because he helped his team to win their 11th game of the season. With the AL Central in a cut throat to maintain a lead, the Tigers are now back in the bottom of their division, yet they’re only four games down from first place. In the next month, anything could happen. It’s been nice to see the best offense in the AL come to life, and that’s exactly what they’ve done in their past few games. Despite losing 4-3 yesterday to the Angels, the Tigers played extremely well and held their own. It was a close game, especially since the Angels have played well enough to shut down the Red Sox, just before they came to Detroit.
The top of the first inning lasted longer than expected due to an error by Edgar Renteria, which would have been an out otherwise. Luckily, Galarraga and the Tigers were able to keep it scoreless. In the bottom of the first, the Tigers offense quickly got to work against Angels pitcher, Dustin Moseley, who went five innings. The fun started when Placido Polanco singled and then stole second. Magglio Ordonez hit an RBI ground rule double and Polanco scored as the Tigers took a 1-0 lead.
In the second, both pitchers had 1-2-3 innings and Galarraga had a 1-2-3 in the third. As Brandon Inge tried to get something going in the third for the Tigers, with a single, the next three hitters went down 1-2-3 again. The fourth was another 1-2-3 inning for Galarraga, but Moseley walked two, though the Tigers weren’t able to capitalize on this.
The fifth was yet another 1-2-3 inning for Galarraga, but not for Moseley. This is when the Tigers were able to get things going again. Pudge Rodriguez started the inning off with a single. After Curtis Granderson doubled, sending Pudge to third, Placido Polanco had an RBI double as Pudge and Curtis both scored. Moseley was able to shut the next two batters, Gary Sheffield and Magglio Ordonez, down, but not without the Tigers adding to their lead, making it 3-0.
Galarraga only gave up one hit in the sixth. Moseley was taken out and replaced in the sixth by Darren O’Day. He was able to keep the Tigers limited to a single. It was in the seventh where things started to fall apart for Galarraga and honestly, the Skipper should have taken him out a little earlier, since the Tigers have such great relievers. Galarraga gave up first base to Torii Hunter, who reached the base on a pitching error. Garret Anderson singled and Hunter made it to third. Maicer Izturis followed this up with a double, which brought both Hunter and Anderson home. The score was now 3-2 and this is when López was brought in to replace Galarraga.
After retiring two, López somewhat fell apart himself. Following a ground out that brought Izturis to third, Chone Figgins singled and Izturis was able to score. While López managed to keep the damage minimal, the Angels evened things up by the end of the seventh and the Tigers would have some work to do to take the lead back again. Luckily, that’s just what they did. The bottom of the seventh led to a rally by the Tigers team that ultimately won them the game.
After Inge popped out, Curtis Granderson, never one to disappoint, tripled. Placido Polanco was intentionally walked. Gary Sheffield batted into a fielder’s choice, but everyone was safe. Granderson scored, Polanco made it to second and Shef made it to first due to an error by the Angels’ second baseman, Izturis. The Tigers took back the lead, but they weren’t done quite yet. Magglio Ordonez followed this up when he RBI doubled. Polanco scored, and Shef made it to third on this double. After Jaque Jones hit a sacrifice fly, so Shef could score, the inning was ended, but not without a 6-3 lead takeover by the Tigers with Denny Bautista coming in to pitch for the Tigers.
In the eighth, Bautista allowed a run, one of his first of the season. Vladimir Guerrero started things off by doubling and he made it to third on a single by Casey Kotchman. Torii Hunter grounded into a double play though Guerrero was able to score and Bautista retired the next batter. Rich Thompson relieved O’Day in the bottom of the eighth and he had a 1-2-3 inning. Of course, Todd Jones was able to come in and shut things down by not allowing any more runs as the Tigers won it 6-4. The MVP of the game was Magglio Ordonez who went 2-4 with two RBIs. Lopez ended up getting the win, despite only pitching one inning in the game.
The Angels and Tigers play their third game in a three game series tomorrow night on ESPN at 8:00 PM EST. Both teams have won one game a piece. After the game, the Tigers head out on the road, where their first stop is in New York to take on the Yankees. Monday they get their first day off in quite a long time. Coincidentally, the Yankees just happened to lose to the Tribe today, 4-3. Hopefully that says something about how the Tigers will do against the Yanks come Tuesday.
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Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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