Tigers def. Reds 5-4 on 3/11/08

March 11, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Cincinnati	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2		4	12	1
Detroit	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	1	X		5	8	0

COMPLETE BOX SCORE AVAILABLE AT:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2008_03_11_cinmlb_detmlb_1


03/11/2008 4:08 PM ET
Tigers belt four homers, defeat Reds
Guillen, Rodriguez, Sizemore go deep; Willis a bit wild
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

TIGERS (ss) 5, REDS (ss) 4
at Lakeland, Fla.
Tuesday, March 11

Reds at the plate: Three walks in the third inning led to Cincinnati's opening run when Jerry Hairston's groundout drove in Norris Hopper. Hairston went 0-for-1 with a walk in his Reds debut, while Corey Patterson's first game as a Red was a 1-for-3 performance.

Tigers at the plate: Carlos Guillen's fourth home run of the spring, a two-run shot, opened the scoring in the second. Scott Sizemore added to it with a solo shot two batters later. Ivan Rodriguez slugged his fourth homer of the spring, tying Guillen for the Major League lead, to the top of the left-field berm leading off the fifth. Brent Clevlen added a solo homer in the eighth.

Reds on the mound: Starter Matt Maloney served up the two second-inning homers, the only damage he allowed in two innings. Jared Burton and Todd Coffey followed with scoreless innings of relief.

Tigers on the mound: Dontrelle Willis battled his control in his third start of the spring, walking four batters before reaching his pitch count with one out in the third. He gave up two hits and struck out three. Jason Grilli escaped the jam with only one run scoring and finished with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Grapefruit League records: Reds 7-7, Tigers 9-5-1.

Up next: The Tigers' full squad is back at home on Wednesday to take on the Astros at 1:05 p.m. ET at Joker Marchant Stadium. Kenny Rogers will make his third start of the spring opposite Woody Williams. Virgil Vasquez, Aquilino Lopez, Tim Byrdak and Preston Larrison are also scheduled to pitch for Detroit.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers overcome Dontrelle Willis' wild outing in 5-4 victory over Reds

FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES • March 11, 2008

LAKELAND, Fla. — Carlos Guillen hit his fourth home run of the spring and the Detroit Tigers overcame Dontrelle Willis' wild outing, beating the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 in a split-squad game Tuesday.

Willis walked four in 2 1-3 innings, allowing one run and two hits. He struck out three.

Acquired from Florida in a blockbuster trade this offseason, the left-hander said he was testing out his pitches and just trying to get ready for the season.

"I was just missing and trying to stay aggressive," Willis said. "My command has to be a lot better. It's going to be fine."

Ivan Rodriguez, Scott Sizemore and Brent Clevlen also homered for the Tigers. Gary Sheffield returned to the lineup after missing four games with leg cramps and went 0-for-3 as the designated hitter.

Jason Grilli replaced Willis in the third and yielded one hit in 2 2-3 scoreless innings.

"It was cool to show Dontrelle that he can have confidence in me," Grilli said. "My job is to stop the bleeding and I think I have done a good job of that for two years now."

Grilli was 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA in 57 games last year, his second straight with more than 50 appearances. He has been working on his backdoor slider, and he put away touted prospect Jay Bruce with one of them.

With Joel Zumaya sidelined for at least the first half of the season, and Fernando Rodney's arm in question, Grilli said he hears the doubts from Detroit fans about the team's bullpen.

"People need to find something wrong, but we have Zach Miner, me, Tim Byrdak and Bobby Seay, and when Rodney is healthy, he'll be back," Grilli said. "People also forget about Todd Jones. We have a closer with more than 300 career saves and everybody forgets that. I think the entire bullpen wants everybody to have to eat some crow."

The Tigers scored three runs in the second off starter Matt Maloney, a non-roster invitee. The Reds closed to 5-4 in the ninth, but Detroit reliever Aquilino Lopez held off a late rally.

Notes:@ Neither manager was in Lakeland for the game. Detroit skipper Jim Leyland was in Winter Haven for a split-squad game against the Indians. Hitting coach Lloyd McClendon ran the Tigers. Cincinnati's Dusty Baker was in Sarasota taking on the Houston Astros. ... Detroit's Marcus Thames sat out with a strained pectoral muscle but said he felt fine and ready to play. ... Brandon Inge started in CF for the Tigers and singled to move his average to .320 this spring. He also has eight walks. Inge has asked the Tigers to trade him.