2010 DETROIT TIGER SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

Detroit Tigers 2010 Schedule

*** All Times Eastern. ***

All games except those listed as ESPN, FS-D PLUS , and FOX will be shown on FSN-DET

Click Score for ESPN RECAP and box score.


HOME GAMES IN BOLD

Date - Opponent - Time/Result
Apr. 5 - at Kansas City - WIN 8-4 (WP: Zumaya (1-0))
Apr. 6 - OFF
Apr. 7 - at Kansas City - LOSE 2-3 in 11 innings (LP: Valverde, BS: Valverde)
Apr. 8 - at Kansas City - WIN 7-3 (WP: Bonine (1-0))
Apr. 9 - Cleveland - WIN 5-2 (WP: Porcello (1-0), S: Valverte (1))
Apr. 10 - Cleveland - WIN 4-2 (WP: Bonderman (1-0), S: Perry (1))
Apr. 11 - Cleveland - WIN 9-8 (WP: Coke (1-0)) SWEEP
Apr. 12 - Kansas City - LOSE 5-10 (LP: Scherzer (0-1))
Apr. 13 - Kansas City - WIN 6-5 (WP: Zumaya (2-0), S: Valverte (2))
Apr. 14 - Kansas City - LOSE 3-7 (LP: Perry (0-1))
Apr. 15 - OFF
Apr. 16 - at Seattle - LOSE 3-11 (LP: Bonderman (1-1))
Apr. 17 - at Seattle - LOSE 2-4 (LP: Verlander (0-1))
Apr. 18 - at Seattle - WIN 4-2 (WP: Scherzer (1-1), S: Valverte (3))
Apr. 19 - at LA Angels - LOSE 0-2 (LP: Willis (0-1))
Apr. 20 - at LA Angels - LOSE 5-6 (LP: Porcello (1-1))
Apr. 21 - at LA Angels - WIN 4-3 (WP: Coke (2-0), S: Valverte (4))
Apr. 22 - at LA Angels - WIN 5-4 (WP: Verlander (1-1), S: Valverte (5))
Apr. 23 - at Texas - LOSE 4-5 (LP: Ni (0-1))
Apr. 24 - at Texas - WIN 8-4 (WP: Bonine (2-0))
Apr. 25 - at Texas - LOSE 4-8 (LP: Porcello (1-2))
Apr. 26 - at Texas - WIN 8-6 (WP: Coke (BS, 1)(W, 3-0), S: Valverte (6))
Apr. 27 - Minnesota - LOSE 0-2 (LP: Verlander (1-2))
Apr. 28 - Minnesota - WIN 11-6 (WP: B. Thomas (1-0))
Apr. 29 - Minnesota - WIN 3-0 (WP: Willis (1-1), S: Valverte (7))
Apr. 30 - LA Angels - WIN 10-6 (WP: Porcello (2-2))

May 1 - LA Angels - WIN 3-2 (WP: Perry (1-1))
May 2 - LA Angels - WIN 5-1 (WP: Verlander (2-2)) SWEEP
May 3 - at Minnesota - LOSE 4-10 (LP: Scherzer (1-2))
May 4 - at Minnesota - LOSE 3-4 (LP: Perry (1-2))
May 5 - at Minnesota - LOSE 4-5 (LP: Porcello (2-3))
May 6 - OFF
May 7 - at Cleveland - Postponed: Rain ... DET 7, CLE 6 after 4 innings
May 8 - at Cleveland - WIN 6-4 (WP: Verlander (3-2), S: Valverte (8))
May 9 - at Cleveland - LOSE 4-7 (LP: Scherzer (1-3))
May 10 - NY Yankees - WIN 5-4 (WP: Bonine (3-0); S: Valverte (9))
May 11 - NY Yankees - Postponed: Rain
May 12 - NY Yankees - DH - WIN 2-0 (WP: Porcello (3-3); S: Valverte (10))
May 12 - NY Yankees - DH - LOSE 0-8 (LP: Bonderman (1-2))
May 13 - NY Yankees - WIN 6-0 (WP: Verlander (4-2))
May 14 - Boston - LOSE 2-7 (LP: Scherzer (1-4))
May 15 - Boston - WIN 7-6 in 12 innings (WP: Valverte (1-1))
May 16 - Boston - WIN 5-1 (WP: Galarraga (1-0))
May 17 - Chicago Sox - Postponed: Rain
May 18 - Chicago Sox - LOSE 2-6 (LP: Porcello (3-4))
May 19 - at Oakland - WIN 5-1 (WP: Verlander (5-2)) (Complete game for JV)
May 20 - at Oakland - WIN 5-2 (WP: Bonderman (2-2); S: Valverte (11)) SWEEP
May 21 - at LA Dodgers - LOSE 1-4 (LP: Willis (1-2))
May 22 - at LA Dodgers - LOSE 4-6 (LP: Galarraga (1-1))
May 23 - at LA Dodgers - WIN 6-2 (WP: Porcello (4-4))
May 24 - OFF
May 25 - at Seattle - LOSE 3-5 (LP: Verlander (5-3))
May 26 - at Seattle - LOSE 4-5 (LP: Perry (1-3), (BS: 1))
May 27 - OFF
May 28 - Oakland - LOSE 4-5 (LP: Perry (1-4))
May 29 - Oakland - LOSE 0-6 (LP: Porcello (4-5))
May 30 - Oakland - WIN 10-2 (WP: Scherzer (2-4); S: Zumaya (1))
May 31 - Oakland - LOSE 1-4 (LP: Verlander (5-4))

Jun. 1 - Cleveland - LOSE 2-3 (LP: Bonderman (2-3))
Jun. 2 - Cleveland - WIN 3-0 (WP: Galarraga (2-1)) (Complete game for AG)
Jun. 3 - Cleveland - WIN 12-6 (WP: Thomas (2-0))
Jun. 4 - at Kansas City - LOSE 3-7 (LP: Scherzer (2-5))
Jun. 5 - at Kansas City - WIN 4-2 (WP: Verlander (6-4); S: Valverte (12))
Jun. 6 - at Kansas City - LOSE 2-7 (LP: Bonderman (2-4))
Jun. 7 - OFF
Jun. 8 - at Chicago Sox - WIN 7-2 (WP: Thomas (3-0))
Jun. 9 - at Chicago Sox - LOSE 3-15 (LP: Porcello (4-6))
Jun. 10 - at Chicago Sox - LOSE 0-3 (LP: Scherzer (2-6))
Jun. 11 - Pittsburgh - WIN 6-2 (WP: Verlander (7-4))
Jun. 12 - Pittsburgh - WIN 4-3 IN 10 INN. (WP: Coke (4-0))
Jun. 13 - Pittsburgh - WIN 4-3 (WP: Thomas (4-0); S: Valverte (13)) SWEEP
Jun. 14 - OFF
Jun. 15 - Washington - WIN 7-4 (WP: Scherzer (3-6); S: Valverte (14))
Jun. 16 - Washington - WIN 8-3 (WP: Verlander (8-4))
Jun. 17 - Washington - WIN 8-3 (WP: Bonderman (3-4)) SWEEP
Jun. 18 - Arizona - WIN 7-5 (WP: Coke (5-0); S: Valverte (15))
Jun. 19 - Arizona - LOSE 5-6 (LP: Porcello (4-7))
Jun. 20 - Arizona - WIN 3-1 (WP: Scherzer (4-6); S: Valverte (16))
Jun. 21 - OFF
Jun. 22 - at NY Mets - LOSE 6-14 (LP: Verlander (8-5))
Jun. 23 - at NY Mets - LOSE 0-5 (LP: Bonderman (3-5))
Jun. 24 - at NY Mets - WIN 6-5 (WP: Galarraga (3-1); S: Valverte (17))
Jun. 25 - at Atlanta - LOSE 1-3 (LP: Oliver (0-1))
Jun. 26 - at Atlanta - LOSE 3-4 (LP: Zumaya (2-1))
Jun. 27 - at Atlanta - WIN 10-4 (WP: Verlander (9-5))
Jun. 28 - at Minnesota - WIN 7-5 (WP: Bonderman (4-5); S: Valverte (18))
Jun. 29 - at Minnesota - LOSE 4-11 (LP: Galarraga (3-2))
Jun. 30 - at Minnesota - LOSE 1-5 (LP: Oliver (0-2))

Detroit Tigers 2010 Schedule

*** All Times Eastern. ***

WINS - 81 ; LOSES - 81

HOME GAMES IN BOLD

Date - Opponent - Time/Result
Jul. 1 - OFF
Jul. 2 - Seattle - WIN 7-1 (WP: Scherzer (5-6))
Jul. 3 - Seattle - WIN 6-1 (WP: Verlander (10-5))
Jul. 4 - Seattle - LOSE 1-8 (LP: Bonderman (4-6))
Jul. 5 - Baltimore - WIN 12-9 (WP: Bonine (4-0))
Jul. 6 - Baltimore - WIN 7-5 F/11 (WP: Perry (2-4))
Jul. 7 - Baltimore - WIN 4-2 (WP: Scherzer (6-6); SV: Coke (1)) SWEEP
Jul. 8 - OFF
Jul. 9 - Minnesota - WIN 7-3 (WP: Verlander (11-5))
Jul. 10 - Minnesota - WIN 7-4 (WP: Bonderman (5-6); SV: Valverte (19))
Jul. 11 - Minnesota - LOSE 3-6 (LP: Oliver (0-3))
Jul. 11 - XM All-Star Futures Game
Jul. 11 - Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game
Jul. 12 - State Farm Home Run Derby
Jul. 13 - 81st All-Star Game, in Anaheim
Jul. 14 - OFF
Jul. 15 - OFF
Jul. 16 - at Cleveland - LOSE 2-8 (LP: Scherzer (6-7))
Jul. 17 - at Cleveland - LOSE 3-4 (LP: Coke (5-1))
Jul. 17 - at Cleveland - LOSE 1-2 IN 11 INNINGS (LP: Weinhardt (0-1))
Jul. 18 - at Cleveland - LOSE 2-7 (LP: Oliver (0-4))
Jul. 19 - Texas - LOSE 6-8 IN 14 INNINGS (LP: Gonzalez, En (0-1))
Jul. 20 - Texas - LOSE 0-8 (LP: Galarraga (3-3))
Jul. 21 - Texas - WIN 4-1 (WP: Scherzer (7-7))
Jul. 22 - Toronto - WIN 5-2 (WP: Verlander (12-5); SV: Valverte (20))
Jul. 23 - Toronto - RAIN: POSTPONED - MAKE UP JUL 25 AT 6:05
Jul. 24 - Toronto - LOSE 2-3 (LP: Porcello (4-8))
Jul. 25 - Toronto - LOSE 3-5 (LP: Valverte (1-2))
Jul. 25 - Toronto - WIN 6-5 (WP: Coke (6-1); SV: Valverte (21))
Jul. 26 - at Tampa Bay - LOSE 0-5 (LP: Scherzer (7-8))
Jul. 27 - at Tampa Bay - LOSE 2-3 (LP: Verlander (12-6)
Jul. 28 - at Tampa Bay - LOSE 4-7 (LP: Bonine (4-1))
Jul. 29 - at Tampa Bay - LOSE 2-4 (LP: Porcello (4-9))
Jul. 30 - at Boston - WIN 6-5 (WP: Weinhardt (1-1))
Jul. 31 - at Boston - LOSE 4-5 (LP: Coke (6-2))

Aug. 1 - at Boston - LOSE 3-4 (LP: Thomas (4-1))
Aug. 2 - OFF
Aug. 3 - Chicago Sox - LOSE 2-12 (LP: Porcello (4-10))
Aug. 3 - Chicago Sox - WIN 7-1 (WP: Bonderman (6-6))
Aug. 4 - Chicago Sox - LOSE 1-4 (LP: Galarraga (3-4))
Aug. 5 - Chicago Sox - LOSE 4-6 F/11 INNINGS (LP: Valverte (1-3))
Aug. 6 - LA Angels - LOSE 2-4 (LP: Verlander (12-7))
Aug. 7 - LA Angels - LOSE 1-10 (LP: Bonderman (6-7))
Aug. 8 - LA Angels - WIN 9-4 (WP: Porcello (5-10))
Aug. 9 - Tampa Bay - LOSE 3-6 (LP: Galarraga (3-5))
Aug. 10 - Tampa Bay - LOSE 0-8 (LP: Scherzer (7-9))
Aug. 11 - Tampa Bay - WIN 3-2 (WP: Verlander (13-7); SV: Valverte (22))
Aug. 12 - OFF
Aug. 13 - at Chicago Sox - LOSE 4-8 (LP: Bonderman (6-8))
Aug. 14 - at Chicago Sox - WIN 3-2 (WP: Coke (7-2))
Aug. 15 - at Chicago Sox - WIN 13-8 (WP: Thomas (5-1))
Aug. 16 - at NY Yankees - WIN 3-1 (WP: Scherzer (8-9); SV: Valverte (23))
Aug. 17 - at NY Yankees - LOSE 2-6 (LP: Verlander (13-8))
Aug. 18 - at NY Yankees - LOSE 5-9 (LP: Bonderman (6-9))
Aug. 19 - at NY Yankees - LOSE 5-11 (LP: Porcello (5-11))
Aug. 20 - Cleveland - WIN 6-0 (WP: Galarraga (4-5))
Aug. 21 - Cleveland - WIN 5-2 (WP: Scherzer (9-9); SV: Valverte (24))
Aug. 22 - Cleveland - WIN 8-1 (WP: Verlander (14-8)) SWEEP
Aug. 23 - Kansas City - WIN 12-3 (WP: Bonderman (7-9))
Aug. 24 - Kansas City - WIN 9-1 (WP: Porcello (6-11))
Aug. 25 - Kansas City - LOSE 3-4 F/12 INNINGS (LP: Figaro (0-1))
Aug. 26 - at Toronto - WIN 7-1 (WP: Scherzer (10-9))
Aug. 27 - at Toronto - LOSE 2-3 F/11 INNINGS (LP: Coke (7-3))
Aug. 28 - at Toronto - LOSE 4-5 (LP: Figaro (0-2))
Aug. 29 - at Toronto - WIN 10-4 (WP: Porcello (7-11))
Aug. 30 - OFF
Aug. 31 - at Minnesota - LOSE 3-4 (LP: Coke (7-4))

Sept. 1 - at Minnesota - LOSE 1-2 F/10 INNINGS (LP: Perry (2-5))
Sept. 2 - at Minnesota - WIN 10-9 F/13 INNINGS (WP: Valverte (2-3))
Sept. 3 - at Kansas City - WIN 9-5 F/11 INNINGS (WP:Perry (3-5))
Sept. 4 - at Kansas City - WIN 6-4 (WP: Porcello (8-11); SV: Valverte (25))
Sept. 5 - at Kansas City - LOSE 1-2 (LP: Thomas (5-2))
Sept. 6 - Chicago Sox - LOSE 4-5 F/10 INNINGS (LP: Valverte (2-4))
Sept. 7 - Chicago Sox - WIN 9-1 (WP: Verlander (15-8))
Sept. 8 - Chicago Sox - WIN 5-1 (WP: Bonderman (8-9))
Sept. 9 - Chicago Sox - WIN 6-3 (WP: Porcello (9-11); SV: Perry (2))
Sept. 10 - Baltimore - LOSE 3-6 (LP: Coke (7-5))
Sept. 11 - Baltimore - LOSE 3-5 (LP: Scherzer (10-10))
Sept. 12 - Baltimore - WIN 6-2 (WP: Verlander (16-8))
Sept. 13 - OFF
Sept. 14 - at Texas - LOSE 4-11 (LP: Weinhardt (1-2))
Sept. 15 - at Texas - LOSE 7-11 (LP: Galarraga (4-6))
Sept. 16 - OFF
Sept. 17 - at Chicago Sox - WIN 9-2 (WP: Scherzer (11-10))
Sept. 18 - at Chicago Sox - WIN 6-3 (WP: Verlander (17-8))
Sept. 19 - at Chicago Sox - WIN 9-7 F/11 INNINGS (WP: Weinhardt (2-2); SV: Schlereth (1)) SWEEP
Sept. 20 - Kansas City - WIN 7-5 (WP: Thomas, B (6-2); SV: Coke (2))
Sept. 21 - Kansas City - LOSE 6-9 (LP: Galarraga (4-7))
Sept. 22 - Kansas City - WIN 4-2 (WP: Scherzer (12-10))
Sept. 23 - OFF
Sept. 24 - Minnesota - WIN 10-1 (WP: Verlander (18-8)) Complete game for JV
Sept. 25 - Minnesota - WIN 11-10 F/13 INNINGS (WP: Schlereth (1-0))
Sept. 26 - Minnesota - WIN 5-1 (WP: Porcello (10-11) SWEEP
Sept. 27 - at Cleveland - LOSE 3-6 (LP: Galarraga (4-8))
Sept. 28 - at Cleveland - POSTPONED: RAIN
Sept. 29 - at Cleveland - LOSE 0-4 (LP: Scherzer (12-11))
Sept. 29 - at Cleveland - LOSE 3-4 (LP: Verlander (18-9))
Sept. 30 - at Baltimore - POSTPONED: RAIN

Oct. 1 - at Baltimore - GM 1 - LOSE 6-10 (LP: Bonderman (8-10))
Oct. 1 - at Baltimore - GM 2 - LOSE 1-2 (LP: Porcello (10-12))
Oct. 2 - at Baltimore - LOSE 1-2 (LP: Galarraga (4-9))
Oct. 3 - at Baltimore - WIN 4-2 (WP: Schlereth (2-0); SV: Valverte (26))

RESERVED

RESERVED

Last Updated: January 29. 2010 3:42PM
Tom Gage: Tigers Insider
Tigers' 2010 schedule easier on the travel than recent seasons

Detroit -- If he's said it once, he's said it a dozen times. Probably more.

"The schedule is the schedule. I go where the plane takes me."

That's the way manager Jim Leyland looks at 162 games. At least that's his public way of looking at them.

But in all likelihood for Leyland, too, one of the best and most unsung annual features about TigerFest, which was held last week, is that it's the first time you can get your hands on a pocket schedule.

A mid-winter sign of summer.

True, the Tigers' 2010 schedule has been known for a while. But it doesn't really sink in and become part of your looking-ahead calendar until you can fold it up and put it in your back pocket.

Or in your wallet.

Or the corner of the mirror.

Or under a refrigerator magnet that the last plumber who came to your house gave you.

In any case, you could now be sitting at the kitchen table with the pocket schedule in hand, thinking, "Not bad at all."

As opposed to some of the monsters they've recently had.

Such as the two seasons in the last three that they've had four West Coast trips -- Arizona included.

And the year they had five three-city trips instead of four. Or better yet three.

And also such as getting no appreciable break at the break -- meaning their recent All-Star breaks that were almost over before they began.

That's not the case this year. The Tigers get a legit break this time -- so let's start there when looking at the schedule.

In 2007, the Tigers were home before the All-Star break and opened in Seattle on a Thursday after the break -- meaning they had to fly out there on Wednesday.

Thanks a lot, they didn't say, but could have.

Thanks a lot for what amounted to a two-day break.

It's been better the last two years. They were home before the break in 2008 and opened in Baltimore on a Thursday afterward. Still not great, but a shorter flight.

And last year, they finally got what so many other teams have been granted -- an extra day. They were at home before the break and opened in New York after it on Friday instead of Thursday.

The same holds true this year, but even better. They're home, then resume in Cleveland on Friday.

Being home and home, before and after, appears to be out of the question. In the five years Leyland's been here, including this one, the Tigers have not had a home-and-home break, but they won't quibble about that. As long the schedule doesn't have them resuming in Seattle on Thursday.

Three-city trips are another mark of a grueling schedule. Most years the Tigers will have four three-city trips. Some don't have off-days built into them. Many don't, in fact. Others do.

What teams don't like -- actually, what they intensely dislike -- is to look at the schedule and see a big, fat, three-city trip in August staring back at them -- without a day off to break it up.

Or, for that matter, a three-city trip of any kind deep into September.

The Tigers have a three-stopper that starts in late August this year, but between Toronto and Minnesota, they have a day off. And the trip ends Sept. 5.

After that, they have a pair of two-stoppers -- and although they finish the season with a week on the road, there are more arduous challenges they could have been assigned.

Such as having to go to the West Coast more than twice.

The Tigers' West Coast travel this season is done on May 26. That's it.

By then they will have gone to Seattle twice, to the Los Angeles area twice -- once for the Angels and once to play the Dodgers -- and also to Oakland once.

It's recently unheard of, however, for them to be done with their most distant travel that early. The earliest the Tigers have ended their West Coast travel since 2006 was July 2 (in 2008).

The latest, other than the October playoff games they played in Oakland in 2006, was Sept. 2 (in 2007).

But never as early as May.

So there's something to be said about this schedule. The travel gods are suddenly smiling upon the Tigers. It's not totally glitch-free. Every team has early-morning arrivals into another city -- and so will the Tigers.

Getting to Texas after a night game in Anaheim in April, for instance.

But as schedules go, this one appears to be a keeper. Then again, you would have kept it anyway.

Probably on the refrigerator.

Under the magnet.

Five reasons the schedule is good

1. West Coast travel ends May 26

2. Extra day at the All-Star break

3. Season resumes in Cleveland after the break, not three time zones away

4. Only two West Coast trips instead of previous three or four

5. Only one three-city trip the second half

Five reasons the schedule is bad

1. Ends with a week on the road

2. Eleven-day trip to AL West without day off in April

3. Two-day stops to both Oakland and Seattle in May -- night game followed by day game

4. For the fans, big-draw Yankees here for weekday series in mid-May instead of a summer weekend series

5. Also for the fans, less-than-compelling NL games here vs. Pittsburgh, Washington, Arizona

Schedule notables

Season opener -- Monday, April 6, at Kansas City, 4:10 p.m.

Home opener -- Friday, April 9, Cleveland, 1:05 p.m.

All-Star Game -- Tuesday, July 13, at Anaheim

Interleague games -- The Tigers are at the Dodgers (May 21, 22, 23); home against Pittsburgh (June 11, 12, 13); home against Washington (June 15, 16, 17); home against Arizona (June 18, 19, 20); at the Mets (June 22, 23, 24); and at Atlanta (June 25, 26, 27).

tom.gage@detnews.com

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100129/OPINION03/1290425/1129/SPORTS0104/Tigers--2010-schedule-easier-on-the-travel-than-recent-seasons#ixzz0e3D70KHQ

FOX reveals Saturday Baseball schedule

Feb 3rd, 2010 | 3:30 pm

FOX Sports announced their 2010 baseball schedule Wednesday, it includes two dates in prime time.

On Saturday May 22 and Saturday June 26 the network’s regional coverage will begin at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT.

May 22 features a four game slate: the defending World Champion New York Yankees battle the cross-town rival New York Mets, the Boston Red Sox travel to Philadelphia to take on the defending NL Champion Phillies, the Chicago Cubs visit the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers head west to take on the defending NL West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Then on June 26, one of the game’s most storied rivalries resumes as the Dodgers host the Yankees for the first time at Dodger Stadium since 2004, the Red Sox travel to San Francisco to face the Giants and the battle for Windy City bragging rights ensues on the South Side as the White Sox host the Cubs.

“We’ve been thinking about taking a few of our afternoon dates to prime time dates for quite some time now, and this season’s schedule is so strong that the time seemed right,” said FOX Sports President Ed Goren. “There is still no platform that has the reach of prime time broadcast television.”

2010 MLB on FOX REGULAR SEASON BROADCAST SCHEDULE
(Note: Schedule Subject to Change; All Times 4:00 PM Eastern Unless Noted)

Saturday, April 10, 2010 (*3:00 PM ET)
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers
Seattle Mariners at Texas Rangers

Saturday, April 17, 2009
New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals
Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians
San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers

Saturday, April 24, 2010
New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox

Saturday, May 1, 2010 (*3:00 PM ET)
New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies
Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners
Houston Astros at Atlanta Braves

Saturday, May 8, 2010 (*3:00 PM ET)
New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox
Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies

Saturday, May 15, 2010
Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers
Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays
Houston Astros at San Francisco Giants

Saturday, May 22, 2010 (*7:00 PM ET)
New York Yankees at New York Mets
Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago Cubs at Texas Rangers
Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers

Saturday, May 29, 2010
St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs
Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Saturday, June 5, 2010
Florida Marlins at New York Mets
Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Seattle Mariners

Saturday, June 12, 2010
Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Red Sox
Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs

Saturday, June 19, 2010
Los Angeles Dodgers at Boston Red Sox
Minnesota Twins at Philadelphia Phillies

Saturday, June 26, 2010 (*7:00 PM ET)
New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers
Boston Red Sox at San Francisco Giants
Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox

Saturday, July 3, 2010
Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals
Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins
Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves

Saturday, July 10, 2010
Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers
Atlanta Braves at New York Mets
Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers

Saturday, July 17, 2010
Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees
Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals

Saturday, July 24, 2010
New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers
Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies
Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles

Saturday, July 31, 2010
Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox
Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins

Saturday, August 7, 2010
Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees
San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves

Saturday, August 14, 2010
Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals
San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants
Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays

Saturday, August 21, 2010
Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Minnesota Twins
Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles

Saturday, August 28, 2010
Philadelphia Phillies at San Diego Padres
Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners
Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves

Saturday, September 4, 2010
New York Mets at Chicago Cubs
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Oakland A’s
Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins

Saturday, September 11, 2010
Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets
St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves
Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Saturday, September 18, 2010
Atlanta Braves at New York Mets
Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox
Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers

Saturday, September 25, 2010
WILD CARD

Saturday, October 2, 2010
WILD CARD

Read more: http://digitalsportsdaily.com/mlb/20577#ixzz0eWyq3lL5

FSN Detroit makes room for April 7 game
BECK'S BLOG
Posted on March 14, 2010 at 2:36 PM

The one Tigers game this year that wasn't scheduled to be televised is now going to be on TV, though not entirely live. The second game of the season, April 7 at Kansas City, originally was off the FSN Detroit broadcast slate due to conflicts with Red Wings and Pistons games that night. Now the network has reached a compromise.

The game will not be shown live at the start (8:10pm ET first pitch), because the Wings will be on. Once the Wings game is over, FSN Detroit will go live to the Tigers game, approximately 10pm, and carry it until game's end. Then at midnight ET, FSN Detroit will replay the Tigers game in its entirety.

Six-run seventh turns Tigers into victors
Bats bounce back after Verlander struggles in opener

By Jason Beck / MLB.com
04/05/10 9:50 PM ET

Box >

KANSAS CITY -- Indeed, Justin Verlander was right. Opening Day wasn't about him pitching against Zack Greinke, or Verlander trying to outpitch the American League's Cy Young winner. As it turned out, it was about the Tigers hitting against the Royals' bullpen.

Better yet, it was about Detroit doing so without waiting for the three-run homer.

While Verlander is now winless in three Opening Day starts, the Tigers have their first Opening Day win since 2007. With Monday's 8-4 win over the Royals, they have what they hope is their first sign yet that this is a team that has more than great starting pitching, but also an offense that can strike late and a bullpen that can keep them close enough to take advantage.

They were about more than Verlander on Monday, and Verlander was perfectly fine with that.

"We're never out of a game," Verlander said. "I think with the ability of our bullpen to come in and shut down anybody, you're never out of a game. We've got a pretty potent lineup here. A lot of people might not think that, but I wholeheartedly believe that our lineup's going to be extremely good. And with a dynamic lineup like we have, if our bullpen's able to shut down a lead or hold guys when we're down, then that gives us a chance to win a lot of ballgames."

The Tigers won 10 games last season when trailing after six innings. They didn't come back in any games last year against Greinke, who pretty much dominated in all but one of their five meetings in 2009. Though he gave up six hits over as many innings Monday, he really didn't disappoint, holding the damage to two runs despite what should've been an inning-ending popout dropping for an unearned run in the first.

Greinke outpitched Verlander, who gave up two hits on 100-mph fastballs and was out after five innings, and left after six innings with a 4-2 Royals lead. But what seemed like the spark of a rally by the Tigers in Greinke's last inning became a blaze after he left.

"Basically, I just wanted to go out there and get the hitters back in, so they could go out there and provide the runs they did," said Joel Zumaya (1-0), who sent down the Royals in order in the sixth inning and knew the opportunity the Tigers had.

So did the Tigers' hitters. They didn't want to express any sense of relief when Greinke left, but they also couldn't dismiss the opportunity they had.

"Let me put it this way: It's hard to follow Miguel [Cabrera] in batting practice," Brandon Inge said. "It's hard to follow Greinke in a game. That's the only way I can put it."

Former Tigers reliever Roman Colon had the challenge of following Greinke and protecting a lead, and his leadoff walk to rookie Scott Sizemore provided the initial runner the Tigers needed. But Sizemore and his aggressive baserunning provided the opportunity to turn a small inning into a big one.

Of all the big plays and big hits the Tigers had in the seventh, it was Sizemore going from first to third on Ramon Santiago's pinch-hit single to left that stood out to Johnny Damon, who was known for some alert baserunning himself last October.

"I think the game-changer was Scotty Sizemore taking third base when he did," Damon said. "If he doesn't take third base, we end up bunting [with] Austin Jackson, and we have one out with a guy on second and third hopefully, and you never know what happens after that."

Instead, with runners at the corners and Jackson free to swing away, Jackson hit the first of back-to-back RBI doubles off Robinson Tejeda (0-1). Jackson drove in his fellow rookie Sizemore, then dashed home with the go-ahead run on Damon's liner to right.

By the time Inge doubled in two insurance runs, the Tigers had six hits in an eight-batter span of three different Royals relievers in the seventh -- the same hit total they had in six innings off Greinke. Just as important, they were still forcing the action.

Case in point: Both Cabrera and Carlos Guillen were in motion when Inge hit his liner into the gap in right-center field, but it wasn't a hit-and-run play. With a two-run lead, one out and Juan Cruz in to pitch, manager Jim Leyland let Cabrera try to steal third. Guillen saw Cabrera take off and followed. Inge saw a pitch he liked and swung.

"They gave me the green light there, because [Cruz] was slow to home plate," Cabrera said. "When they're slow and we see something, they want to go."

There was nothing slow about the Tigers relievers who followed Verlander. Nobody out of the Tigers bullpen Monday failed to hit at least 95 mph on the Kauffman Stadium radar gun. Zumaya topped out at 102 mph and hit at least 100 on most of his pitches. Ryan Perry hit 98 to set up Jose Valverde, who did the same.

"To be honest, I didn't feel I was throwing that hard," said Zumaya.

Even Jackson threw hard enough from center field to fire a strike that skipped off the top of the pitching mound to the plate when Jason Kendall tried scoring on Scott Podsednik's bloop single in the bottom of the seventh.

It was about plenty more than Verlander and Greinke. If the Tigers are going to contend in the division, it has to be. Monday was a very good start.

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

Tigers let win slip away in 11th inning
Valverde falters; Cabrera forces extras with homer

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/07/10 2:05 PM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- There's something about extra-inning leads and the Tigers that doesn't allow anyone to rest easy, no matter who the closer is, no matter who the opponent. Jose Valverde couldn't feel nearly the same about Detroit's 3-2 loss to the Royals as his friend Fernando Rodney last October in Minnesota, but Wednesday's loss still carried some sting.

Just as Miguel Cabrera's game-tying home run off the right-field foul pole gave the Tigers new life when they were down to their last strike in the ninth inning, Alberto Callaspo's 11th-inning solo shot to nearly the same spot seemed to suck some of the life back out of Detroit when the Royals seemed to be down.

Two Royals batters, two hits and a Scott Sizemore error later, the Tigers had fallen to their first loss of the season, and all the dramatics of their late comeback was little consolation.

"Anytime you lose a game, it's tough," left fielder Johnny Damon said, "especially when we knew there wasn't much offense going on today. They were able to get two in the bottom half of the 11th. That's what makes it tough. But we have 160 more, and we have another one tomorrow, so hopefully we'll bounce back."

The Tigers already had bounced back in the game to get it that far, with a bounce off the pole. On a night when the Tigers did virtually nothing against Royals starter Luke Hochevar, and marveled at how different Kansas City's young right-hander looked compared to last year, they had more evidence just how valuable their cleanup hitter is.

Cabrera entered the game with eight consecutive hits off Hochevar, tied for the longest such streak by a Tigers hitter against an opposing pitcher since at least 1954, but went 0-for-3 against him. Cabrera's perfect against Kansas City closer Joakim Soria, though, and his latest hit seemed to show how well he seems to see Soria's pitches.

Soria threw him just about everything in his arsenal -- cutters, sliders, an offspeed and a breaking ball. Cabrera fell into an 0-2 hole and battled his way through it, fouling off five two-strike pitches to not only extend his at-bat, but extend the game.

"I was looking for a good pitch," Cabrera said. "I was seeing the ball very well in that at-bat. I was feeling good in that at-bat, so I tried to hit it as hard as I can. I'm glad I made it a big hit."

For a ball that was slicing down the opposite-field line, it was hit hard. Cabrera hit Soria's cutter hard enough to not only clear the fence by a couple feet, but get there before it could really slice foul. The ball hit the pole just above the marker for the fence.

"He's just a great hitter, he had a nice at-bat," Soria said. "I threw everything that I had. He's got a lot of power and he got me. He got one pitch and that was it."

That pitch, a cutter, improved Cabrera to 3-for-3 lifetime against Soria.

"When I saw the right fielder look at that ball, I said, 'Maybe no, maybe yes,'" Cabrera said. "But I'll take the hit right there."

Detroit had chances to really take the game there, and more opportunities in the innings that followed. Carlos Guillen singled after Cabrera's homer but was stranded on second when Brandon Inge flew out. An Austin Jackson strikeout and Damon flyout in the 10th stranded runners at the corners.

Even after Guillen's RBI single capped a string of three straight hits leading off the 11th against former Tigers reliever Kyle Farnsworth (1-0), Detroit could've added on much more. But a double-steal attempt gone horribly wrong left Cabrera hung out to dry going to third.

"[Farnsworth] had a spin move on," manager Jim Leyland said. "Got to give him credit. If he hadn't spun, [Cabrera] probably had the base stolen."

It was still a lead for Valverde, signed during the offseason to seal games like this. And had he hit the strike zone on his 2-2 splitter to Callaspo, he might well have gone on for an easy save. Once he missed outside, though, he had to challenge Callaspo, who turned on his payoff pitch and sent it out to the right-field corner.

"He just charged him," Leyland said of Callaspo. "It looked like him and [Rick] Ankiel both just charged him."

Though the winning run came home when Sizemore couldn't handle a relay throw from right field on Ankiel's double, it was almost academic. With runners at second and third and nobody out otherwise, the Royals wouldn't have needed much to take the game from there.

It was an experience the Tigers didn't have to go through last season, losing a game in which they had a save situation and their closer in to finish it out. For all of Rodney's wildness, he went 37-for-38 in save chances, and his lone blown save opportunity still ended up a Tigers win.

"Obviously Jose had a rough night," Leyland said, "but that's all part of it."

Valverde will have plenty more chances to show his value, and as Damon pointed out, the Tigers have plenty more games to take. But they would've loved to take this one.

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

Willis' start sets up Cabrera's late homer
Lefty effective for six innings as Tigers claim series in KC

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/08/10 6:59 PM ET

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KANSAS CITY -- Dontrelle Willis wasn't a winning pitcher Thursday, but he was an effective one.

That's what the Tigers needed him to be if they were going to pull out another comeback victory, this one a 7-3 victory over the Royals on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. It wasn't so certain at the beginning, but it was clear at the end.

Take away the history, the diagnoses, the leg kick, the personality, everything, and Willis was another Tigers starter keeping his team in the game for his offense to come back late on Miguel Cabrera's three-run homer. And Detroit was enthused about it.

"I thought Dontrelle made a lot of strides," manager Jim Leyland said. "I was tickled. He escaped some trouble, but he battled through it. ... I was very pleased with him. I think he's just got to build on this and keep moving forward."

Willis earned a rotation spot in Spring Training by convincing team officials through his performance that his past struggles with command were behind him. It wasn't simply about hitting the strike zone, but the consistency with which he did it, and the velocity with which he could do it. He showed confidence the Tigers hadn't seen from him over the past two years.

If that confidence was going to be tested, Willis faced it with his first real inning of the season. The Tigers didn't waver, and neither did Willis.

"You guys make more of it than I do," Willis said.

He wasn't overjoyed to escape. He addressed the media like somebody who just did his job.

"They had me on the ropes," Willis said, "but because of my team, I was able to battle, make some good pitches and get us back in the dugout."

Willis' first batter of 2010 was David DeJesus, who drew a four-pitch walk. His second, Scott Podsednik, hit a line-drive single on a full count after getting out of an 0-2 hole. After a double-play grounder, another four-pitch walk followed to Billy Butler.

Willis was throwing the ball in the mid- to upper-80s while trying to find the strike zone, but he had enough movement that his pitches weren't getting outright pounded. The natural reaction would've been to wonder if regular-season action was getting to Willis.

It was not a reaction Leyland shared. He didn't have anyone in the bullpen so much as stretching. Leyland has said repeatedly he believes Willis' control issues are behind him, and he demonstrated it Thursday.

"I don't think he's missing like he did before," Leyland said. "I think it's a different type of walk when he does walk a guy. I know a walk's a walk, but I think it's a different type of walk."

Willis' previous walks were wilder. When he misses now, Leyland explains, he's usually around the strike zone but missing low. It was a concern for Leyland because Willis got a little erratic in his delivery, but it wasn't a trend.

"Early on, I have to force contact," Willis said. "I think everybody's going to have the same approach on me. I think they're going to kind of wait me out and see if I'm throwing the ball over the plate. Those are the moments you can get ahead early and really establish yourself. Toward the middle of the game, I was able to do that."

Those first-inning walks were the last Willis issued. He reached just three other three-ball counts, and none of them resulted in a baserunner. He was ahead in the count on just about every other hit he gave up, including DeJesus' single on an 0-2 pitch to lead off the third and start Kansas City's one other real threat.

Butler's RBI single put another run on the board, again after an 0-2 count, but Willis worked back ahead to get a ground ball from Jose Guillen that third baseman Don Kelly turned into an inning-ending double play.

Not only did Willis' ball-strike ratio improve with each inning, but so did his velocity, topping around at 92-93 mph. He induced three double-play ground balls.

"He wasn't quite as wild as we expected him to be, or as he's been in some of his past [outings]," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "He threw enough strikes for us to have to be ready."

On most days, that would put him in line for a victory. However, a sixth-inning solo homer from Magglio Ordonez was the lone run Detroit produced against Kansas City starter Brian Bannister. The Tigers erased a deficit against the Royals' bullpen for the third time in as many games this series.

After Royals lefty Dusty Hughes erased a seventh-inning threat by striking out Austin Jackson with two runners on, his walk to Johnny Damon leading off the next inning set up the middle of Detroit's order. Ordonez greeted Luis Mendoza (0-1) with a sharp grounder to deep short for an infield single before Cabrera lofted an 0-2 pitch deep to right field for his second homer in less than 24 hours.

Cabrera had four hits; Ordonez added three.

Eddie Bonine (1-0) got the win with his scoreless seventh inning, and Jose Valverde got his first save. But Willis got a lot of the congratulations.

"I'm happy. We won," Willis said.

So were a lot of other Tigers, mainly for him.

"We feel very good how he worked," Cabrera said. "That's what we want to see all season. Hopefully he stays healthy, and our whole pitching staff stays healthy. If our pitching staff stays together the whole season, I think we're going to have a lot of success."

Willis is part of that pitching staff. That's all he wants.

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

Quote :

Jose Valverde got his first save.

I don't think he got a save, he just did not have a blown save today.

Detroit______IP--H--R-ER-BB-SO-HR-ERA

Willis	6.0_	7__	2_	2_	2_	4_	0_	3.00
Bonine(W, 1-0)	1.0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Perry(H, 2)	1.0	1	1	1	1	0	0	3.86
Valverde	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.50
Totals	9.0	11	3	3	3	5	0	2.89

Opportunistic Tigers win home opener
Detroit takes advantage of Indians' three-run error in fifth

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/09/10 3:41 PM ET

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DETROIT -- What was shaping up as a frigid home opener both for the Tigers and their bats heated up with a miscue. Indians third baseman Jhonny Peralta's throwing error cleared the bases for the Tigers in the fifth inning, putting Detroit up for good on its way to a 5-2 victory.

All three Tigers victories through four games this season have come through comebacks, but neither of Detroit's rallies in Kansas City earlier this week turned so much on one particular play. Indians starter David Huff had blanked the Tigers on one hit through four innings before four fifth-inning singles built Detroit's threat. Austin Jackson's one-out single plated Gerald Laird to drive in a run and kept the bases loaded.

Huff (0-1) briefly rebounded to get an infield fly from Johnny Damon for the second out, and got a ground ball from Magglio Ordonez. Peralta bobbled the ball but recovered in time to make a play, except that the throw went wide. All three runners scored.

The rally earned a win for Tigers starter Rick Porcello (1-0), who held the Tigers Indians to two runs on five hits over five-plus innings before Grady Sizemore's leadoff walk in the sixth prompted manager Jim Leyland to go to his bullpen. Phil Coke, Joel Zumaya and Jose Valverde held the Indians scoreless from there, with Valverde earning his second save.

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

Opportunistic Tigers win home opener
Detroit takes advantage of Indians' three-run error in fifth

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/09/10 6:11 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Considering some of the loudest ovations from the Comerica Park crowd came when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, Tigers fans were ready to pounce on most anything to get going. So were Tigers players, many of whom learned the lesson on how valuable every win is from their tiebreaker finish last year.

For the third time in four games this season, the Tigers seized on an opportunity and won a game in which they were trailing, making Friday's 5-2 victory over the Indians a happy home opener in Detroit.This time, speedy Austin Jackson was the perfect Tigers player to do the pouncing.

With one errant throw in the dirt from Jhonny Peralta, the Tigers went from a spoiled bases-loading rally to a two-run lead with the bases cleared. Rick Porcello went from a potential season-opening loss to a game in which he was effective enough without his best stuff, just as David Huff fell from a chance at an eye-opening win to a pitching line littered with unwarranted damage.

"You know, any way you can score runs, that's good," Magglio Ordonez said.

This way didn't have nearly the same dramatic effect as, say, another Miguel Cabrera homer. But it takes a lot of aggressiveness, especially on Jackson's part, and it changed a game. They created the opportunity to change the game, and they'll take it.

"Sometimes plays like that, obviously it has a lot to do with his speed," manager Jim Leyland said.

The Tigers' 3-1 start is their best since 2006, and all three Tigers victories this season have come through comebacks. But neither of Detroit's rallies in Kansas City earlier this week turned so much on one particular play. Huff had blanked the Tigers on one hit through four innings before four fifth-inning singles, two of them infield ground balls, built Detroit's threat.

They were piecing together a rally rather than scoring runs in a bunch. Jackson had one of those infield singles when his ground ball left shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera with no play at any base, only a late throw to second as Adam Everett slid in and Gerald Laird dashed home.

A sacrifice fly or simple groundout would've tied the game, but Huff erased that opportunity with an infield fly from Johnny Damon. Huff fell behind on Ordonez, who fired a ground ball right at Peralta at third. The ball was hit hard enough that Peralta couldn't corral it initially, only knock it down, but he still had enough time to throw out Ordonez at first.

Once Peralta's throw bounced in the dirt and skipped past first baseman Andy Marte, it was a race. Scott Sizemore and Everett were scoring for sure, but Jackson took off quickly enough that he was well around second base when the throw skipped away.

Jackson kept going -- kept flying, more accurately -- as the Indians scrambled to grab the ball near the tarp down the right-field line. He didn't think twice.

"Once it kicked up and it went to the fence, I knew I had a pretty good chance of scoring," Jackson said. "I've done that play several times, where the infielder threw the ball to the fence, and I've scored on that. I was pretty confident that I could score."

Jackson didn't even slide. His extra run turned what would've been a one-run Tigers lead into two, which became all the more important once Huff induced a Cabrera fly to right for the third out.

"Nobody else we have would've done that, probably," Leyland said of Jackson. "But it's also where the ball goes, how it bounces, how it sets up, if an infielder's back there. So it doesn't surprise me. He's an excellent baserunner to go along with very good speed. He's really a good baserunner, a very instinctive baserunner. I've been impressed."

He's certainly an aggressive one, and he showed it again later for one more insurance tally. Jackson's four-pitch walk leading off the seventh put him on base to create havoc for reliever Jamey Wright, whose slow delivery home gave Jackson an ample jump to steal second. Damon's ninth-pitch grounder to second moved up Jackson for Ordonez, who doubled over center fielder Grady Sizemore and to the out-of-town scoreboard.

It was a manufactured insurance run, a big one, the kind they didn't produce as much as they would've liked last year.

"That was a textbook run," Leyland said. "That was something he can be good with. Jackson steals second, Johnny does a great job of hooking a grounder, then Magglio picked him up. That's the kind of baseball you want to play when you draw it up."

They can't play it up and down their lineup, but they can play it with certain portions. Jackson's potential is obvious, not just with speed but aggressiveness. It heated up what was generally a frosty day for offense, and turned Porcello (1-0) into a winner for his five-plus innings of five-hit ball. Phil Coke, Joel Zumaya and Jose Valverde held the Indians scoreless from there, with Valverde earning his second save.

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

Quote :

Valverde earning his second save.

1st save, not 2nd!

Game 1, no save
Game 2, blown save
Game 3, no save
Game 4, save

Beck's corrected version:


Opportunistic Tigers win home opener
Detroit takes advantage of Indians' three-run error in fifth

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/09/10 6:11 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Considering some of the loudest ovations from the Comerica Park crowd came when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, Tigers fans were ready to pounce on most anything to get going. So were Tigers players, many of whom learned the lesson on how valuable every win is from their tiebreaker finish last year.

For the third time in four games this season, the Tigers seized on an opportunity and won a game in which they were trailing, making Friday's 5-2 victory over the Indians a happy home opener in Detroit. This time, speedy Austin Jackson was the perfect Tigers player to do the pouncing.

With one errant throw in the dirt from Jhonny Peralta, the Tigers went from a spoiled bases-loading rally to a two-run lead with the bases cleared. Rick Porcello went from a potential season-opening loss to a game in which he was effective enough without his best stuff, just as David Huff fell from a chance at an eye-opening win to a pitching line littered with unwarranted damage.

"You know, any way you can score runs, that's good," Magglio Ordonez said.

This way didn't have nearly the same dramatic effect as, say, another Miguel Cabrera homer. But it takes a lot of aggressiveness, especially on Jackson's part, and it changed a game. They created the opportunity to change the game, and they'll take it.

"Sometimes plays like that, obviously it has a lot to do with his speed," manager Jim Leyland said.

The Tigers' 3-1 start is their best since 2006, and all three Tigers victories this season have come through comebacks. But neither of Detroit's rallies in Kansas City earlier this week turned so much on one particular play. Huff had blanked the Tigers on one hit through four innings before four fifth-inning singles, two of them infield ground balls, built Detroit's threat.

They were piecing together a rally rather than scoring runs in a bunch. Jackson had one of those infield singles when his ground ball left shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera with no play at any base, only a late throw to second as Adam Everett slid in and Gerald Laird dashed home.

A sacrifice fly or simple groundout would've tied the game, but Huff erased that opportunity with an infield fly from Johnny Damon. Huff fell behind on Ordonez, who fired a ground ball right at Peralta at third. The ball was hit hard enough that Peralta couldn't corral it initially, only knock it down, but he still had enough time to throw out Ordonez at first.

Once Peralta's throw bounced in the dirt and skipped past first baseman Andy Marte, it was a race. Scott Sizemore and Everett were scoring for sure, but Jackson took off quickly enough that he was well around second base when the throw skipped away.

Jackson kept going -- kept flying, more accurately -- as the Indians scrambled to grab the ball near the tarp down the right-field line. He didn't think twice.

"Once it kicked up and it went to the fence, I knew I had a pretty good chance of scoring," Jackson said. "I've done that play several times, where the infielder threw the ball to the fence, and I've scored on that. I was pretty confident that I could score."

Jackson didn't even slide. His extra run turned what would've been a one-run Tigers lead into two, which became all the more important once Huff induced a Cabrera fly to right for the third out.

"Nobody else we have would've done that, probably," Leyland said of Jackson. "But it's also where the ball goes, how it bounces, how it sets up, if an infielder's back there. So it doesn't surprise me. He's an excellent baserunner to go along with very good speed. He's really a good baserunner, a very instinctive baserunner. I've been impressed."

He's certainly an aggressive one, and he showed it again later for one more insurance tally. Jackson's four-pitch walk leading off the seventh put him on base to create havoc for reliever Jamey Wright, whose slow delivery home gave Jackson an ample jump to steal second. Damon's ninth-pitch grounder to second moved up Jackson for Ordonez, who doubled over center fielder Grady Sizemore and to the out-of-town scoreboard.

It was a manufactured insurance run, a big one, the kind they didn't produce as much as they would've liked last year.

"That was a textbook run," Leyland said. "That was something he can be good with. Jackson steals second, Johnny does a great job of hooking a grounder, then Magglio picked him up. That's the kind of baseball you want to play when you draw it up."

They can't play it up and down their lineup, but they can play it with certain portions. Jackson's potential is obvious, not just with speed but aggressiveness. It heated up what was generally a frosty day for offense, and turned Porcello (1-0) into a winner for his five-plus innings of five-hit ball. Phil Coke, Joel Zumaya and Jose Valverde held the Indians scoreless from there, with Valverde earning his first save as a Tiger.

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

Bonderman impressive in Tigers' win
Right-hander nails down first victory in nearly two years

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/10/10 6:52 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Jeremy Bonderman can remember having big days like this that probably don't seem so long ago. Ryan Perry has never had a day like this, which explains the adrenaline he was feeling.

What Bonderman was able to start for the Tigers on Saturday, Perry was able to finish. And the same 4-2 win over the Indians that made Bonderman look a little younger after a season and a half essentially on the shelf, made Perry seem all the more mature after barely a year in the big leagues.

"It's special that I could go out and get a 'W'. It's been two years," Bonderman said. "It's been a long journey back, but I'm hoping I've got 35 more good starts in me. Hopefully, we'll do something special."

It has the makings of a special start for the Tigers, who are racking up the wins against Cleveland and Kansas City that they struggled to find at times the previous three seasons. At 4-1, they're off to their best start since 2006, when they won their first five games on their way to an eventual World Series appearance.

That season came out of nowhere, but Bonderman's breakout that year was seemingly expected of him ever since he made the Tigers rotation in 2003. His shoulder surgery to correct a circulation problem in 2008 and the struggles to get back to this point basically erased expectations on what's left of his career.

Yet as he went about attacking Indians hitters with a splitter, the offspeed pitch he never had before he was hurt, he showed a side of pitching he never quite captured before.

"That was really Jeremy Bonderman the pitcher," manager Jim Leyland said, "not Jeremy Bonderman the 95-96-mph fastball, hard slider. He pitched, and that's the adjustment that he's going to have to make. We're tickled to death today. That's progress, and that's something you have to build on."

Or as Leyland said at another point, "That's really the best I've seen him pitch in a long time."

Despite a 92-mph fastball that suggests he's gaining velocity, Bonderman wasn't a power pitcher Saturday, yet he was a deceptive one. He struck out three of Cleveland's first four hitters, the veteran heart of its batting order, by working ahead with fastballs to set up sliders and splitters.

He allowed just two solidly hit balls his first time through the Indians' lineup, then came back around to strike out Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore a second time by letting them watch 92-mph fastballs on the corner.

"I was able to get guys looking for other stuff," Bonderman said.

By itself, the splitter wasn't a swing-and-miss pitch, though Travis Hafner went down on a checked swing at one leading off the second inning. In tandem with his other stuff, though, it had that kind of impact.

"We threw it sometimes first pitch, or when we were ahead in the count," catcher Alex Avila said. "We threw it a couple times behind in the count, but really the game plan was to get in a rhythm throwing strikes and just incorporate both the slider and the splitter."

Everything was working to perfection through 11 batters. Then Bonderman started off Shin-Soo Choo with back-to-back splitters that missed the corner. A 3-0 count and an eventual walk followed, then another 3-0 count for a Hafner single. Once Jhonny Peralta worked Bonderman for 12 pitches and another walk, he was struggling.

"I felt fine until Peralta wore me down," Bonderman said. "Until then, I felt great. I was rolling until that point."

A splitter in the dirt scored Choo, but Bonderman retired the last four batters he faced to get through five and get in line for his first Major League win since May 22, 2008.

Perry was still in college at that point, not that that's a long time ago for him. Bonderman, on the other hand, was on the disabled list when the Tigers drafted Perry, and on the DL again when Perry made the Major League roster out of Spring Training last year.

As Bonderman was wrapping up his effort, Perry was still sitting in the bullpen, a few innings away from his call. But with Jose Valverde, Joel Zumaya and Phil Coke all being rested Saturday, Perry knew his call would be coming in a save situation if they had the lead.

"Sixth inning on, I was anxious just sitting there," Perry said. "I've always wanted the opportunity to come in and try to get a save, see what I can do."

At age 23, it's a little sooner than most pitchers for a first chance at save, but Perry has long since defied age expectations. Once Fu-Te Ni hit back-to-back batters in the eighth, Perry was on for the save sooner than he would've expected Saturday, facing Peralta with two outs in the eighth.

He was about as energetic as everyone expected.

"Perry's always amped up for everything," Avila said. "I knew he was going to be throwing hard."

The difference is that it's harnessed energy.

"Especially coming in in the eighth, my heart's pounding a little," Perry said. "But I think my confidence has grown since last year, so I'm able to control it, keep my body in position to succeed, instead of just sporadically trying to throw the ball."

It was tested Saturday. Once he struck out Peralta on a nasty slider, he had to sit through the bottom of the eighth inning. He came back for the ninth and retired Cleveland in order, capped by a 98-mph fastball to pinch-hitter Luis Valbuena.

Perry got the game ball and the save. Bonderman got the win. The Tigers got another big step.

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

Wild walkoff caps furious rally
Verlander struggles again but Tigers' bats come alive late

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/11/10 7:32 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Technically, Justin Verlander was long gone from his start Sunday by the time the Tigers came back. Physically, he was right outside the dugout, steps away from storming the field as the rally unfolded.

Verlander had given up a five-run opening inning that included his first grand slam in three years, but he didn't care, just as the Tigers didn't care about the 18 baserunners they stranded. As Indians reliever Chris Perez's wild pitch skipped to the backstop and Carlos Guillen dashed home with the winning run, completing Detroit's six-run comeback in a 9-8 win, everything else was secondary.

They won. That's what mattered.

"I wanted to run out there so bad," Verlander said, "but I was in flip-flops."

Verlander was stuck in the tunnel. Eddie Bonine was stuck in the training room after receiving treatment for a cramp below the ribs that knocked him out in the ninth inning and forced Phil Coke (1-0) to enter with a full count to the leadoff man. Johnny Damon, who started out with the day off, was on base taking four balls as a pinch-hitter. He wanted to run out to the dogpile on Guillen, too, but he had traffic.

"As soon as I tried getting there, Cabrera almost ran me over," Damon said.

Technically, Damon counts as one of 18 Tigers stranded on base Sunday, since he was on first base when Guillen scored. It's just the third time since at least 1920 that the Tigers stranded that many runners in a nine-inning game, win or lose, according to research on baseball-reference.com. The other two Tigers teams to do it lost the game.

The fact that they won in the process makes them just the second team to win with that many left on base since 1986. The Mariners stranded 18 at San Diego and still pulled out a 5-2 win on June 27, 2008.

"That was a game we probably shouldn't have won," manager Jim Leyland said.

Again, the Tigers don't care. At least they went 6-for-19 with runners in scoring position. They didn't have to swing the bat to score the tying and winning runs. Needing one more out for the save, Perez fired nine of his final 10 pitches out of the strike zone.

Damon was ready to swing. He talked afterwards about how it took him three years as a Yankee before he got a game-winning hit. He just never had to, taking a four-pitch walk that forced in Miguel Cabrera with the tying run.

"I was ready to swing at the first pitch," Damon said. "It definitely comes with experience, to be able to see a pitch and be ready to offer at it or take it. Fortunately, I've been around the league a while. There's going to be situations where I do swing at a bad pitch in that situation, but I felt real good, especially with all the work I did in the cages during the game. Those pitches were just off."

That experience not only led Leyland to turn to Damon with the game on the line, it led him to wait a batter before turning to Damon. Leyland could've pinch-hit Damon for Ramon Santiago a batter earlier, after Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera hit the ground to rob Brandon Inge of a single and record the second out.

Had Damon hit for Santiago, he very likely could've been walked then. That would've left young Alex Avila as the lone pinch-hitter for Gerald Laird with the bases loaded, two outs and the tying run on third.

"I wanted a veteran guy up there," Leyland said. "That's why I hit Damon [for Laird] instead of Avila. I just thought the veteran guy would take closer pitches for balls. I felt comfortable with [Santiago]. If I hit Damon [for him], they might walk him, and then I hit Avila for Laird."

Santiago is a veteran hitter now, and he had reached base safely three times Sunday, despite a double-play grounder that limited Detroit's five-hit, eighth-inning rally to two runs that brought Detroit within 8-6.

He knew exactly what he was doing in the ninth, having watched Perez give up a one-out single to Magglio Ordonez, a walk to Miguel Cabrera and an RBI double to Guillen.

"Before I do anything, I'm thinking about getting a strike," Santiago said. "Make him throw me a strike. The guy behind me, he can do some damage."

Perez (0-1) walked Santiago on five pitches, then Damon on four. Ironically, that brought up rookie Scott Sizemore with a chance to win just his fifth Major League game. He didn't get that shot; Perez bounced a first-pitch slider in the dirt and past catcher Lou Marson.

Detroit's final two runs scored without hits, yet they still had 16 hits over the final five innings after Indians starter Jake Westbrook limited them to two singles over the first four innings. They scored two runs on Ordonez's sixth-inning single and another on Sizemore's two-out double in the seventh, yet left the bases loaded in both innings.

Miguel Cabrera reached base safely in all six of his plate appearances, becoming the first Tiger to do that since Carlos Pena in 2004, but he scored just the final two times. Those were two critical runs in the game.

It was that kind of afternoon, and it made the win that much sweeter.

"Play nine innings and you've got a chance," Santiago said. "It's a great win. It's the best it can get right there."

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

Tigers' overworked bullpen finally implodes in loss
By James Schmehl | MLive.com
April 12, 2010, 6:19PM

Tigers manager Jim Leyland: 'We’re asking too much out of our bullpen' video


DETROIT -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland recognized it was only a matter of time before Detroit’s overworked bullpen would eventually run out of gas.

And, the bullpen’s tank appeared to be running on empty Monday after Kansas City knocked starting pitcher Max Scherzer out early and roughed up a Tigers relievers Brad Thomas and Fu-Te Ni en route to a 10-5 win.

“We’re asking too much out of our bullpen,” Leyland said.

Detroit’s starting pitching had combined for only 26 innings pitched in its last five games, including Monday's meltdown, which snapped Detroit’s four-game winning streak. Scherzer, Thomas Ni combined for 193 pitches in the game, allowing 20 baserunners.

Scherzer gave up five runs -- just two earned -- but eclipsed 100-pitch mark in the fifth inning, forcing Leyland to resort to Detroit’s bullpen in the sixth inning for the fourth straight day. Tigers ace Justin Verlander lasted five innings after a 43-pitch first inning Sunday.

“In fairness of the bullpen, we’re asking them to get too many outs,” Leyland said. “The last couple of days, we’ve used them because we had to and not because we wanted to and that’s usually disastrous.”

Carlos Guillen’s first home run of the season and Brandon Inge’s two-run double fueled Detroit’s comeback attempt Monday, but the Royals responded with three runs in the sixth and two in the eighth off Thomas and Ni.

“We did come back and we had a shot,” Leyland said. “But you’re asking too much when you’re in the bullpen in the fifth inning every day. That’s normally not a good sign.”

Scherzer burned by KC second time around
After stellar first start against Royals, righty struggles in loss

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/12/10 4:35 PM ET

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DETROIT -- The second time around for Max Scherzer against the Royals was not kind, as the righty yielded an RBI double to Billy Butler and a two-run homer to Jose Guillen in a 10-5 Tigers loss Monday afternoon at Comerica Park.

The loss ended the Tigers' four-game winning streak and halted what had been Detroit's best start to a season since 1985.

Both Scherzer (0-1) and Royals starter Luke Hochevar picked up no-decisions in their previous matchup last Wednesday in Kansas City, neither of them allowing a run during their outings in a game that went into extra innings. Scherzer admitted Monday that he has had problems in his young career when facing the same team in back-to-back starts, with the second matchup almost always rougher than the first.

Scherzer started out with an encouraging performance Monday, facing the minimum nine batters through three innings thanks to three double plays. But Scott Podsednik's one-out bunt single set up a four-run fourth inning in which the Royals batted around. Alberto Callaspo walked and scored on Butler's double.

Scherzer nearly got out of the inning from that, but Miguel Cabrera dropped a foul popup near the Tigers dugout, extending Guillen's at-bat for him to take Scherzer's payoff pitch deep to left. Scherzer lasted five innings before Podsednik's two-run single keyed a three-run sixth off Brad Thomas.

Carlos Guillen's first home run of the season and Brandon Inge's two-run double fueled Detroit's comeback attempt. Unlike Sunday, however, the Tigers didn't have nearly enough opportunities to get back into the game. Hochevar (1-0) got the win despite allowing five runs -- four earned -- over five-plus innings.

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

Another comeback, another Tigers win
Detroit rallies for six runs in seventh inning vs. Royals

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/13/10 7:10 PM ET

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DETROIT -- They can't keep this up, can they?

It's hard to envision any team that can keep winning like this, these Tigers and their comebacks, the latest being Tuesday's six-run seventh inning for a 6-5 win over the Royals.

The other side of the argument, the side that one proven winner on the Tigers points out, is that it's hard to see a team ultimately winning without these games.

"Every good team, if you look at the end of the season, they're going to rely on a bunch of comeback wins," Johnny Damon said. "Case in point: the team I was on last year [the World Series champion Yankees], lots of comeback wins. The fact that we're doing that, now we're 6-2, we know we can come back from anything. So the confidence level of this team, hopefully we can keep it up for a long time and know that when we're down, we have that chance. You just have to fight."

The Tigers are 6-2 overall. They're 4-1 when trailing after six innings. To compare, they had 10 wins all of last season when trailing after six innings. They had another game last Wednesday at Kansas City in which they trailed with two outs in the ninth, down to their last strike, before Miguel Cabrera homered to send to the game into extra innings before they eventually lost.

Two days after Detroit erased a six-run deficit against Cleveland to win on a game-tying walk and a game-ending wild pitch, the club went from being shut out by a starter on top of his game heading into the bottom of the sixth to leading by inning's end -- 11 batters, six runs and five hits later.

The Tigers have certainly been granted some comeback opportunities, but they're also making opponents pay with regularity, like they couldn't do nearly enough last year.

"It's a lot different from last year," said Carlos Guillen, whose two-run double capped Tuesday's comeback. "We've been working [pitchers] more, I think. We've been more patient at the plate, every at-bat. Everybody's getting good at-bats, you know, putting pressure on the defense."

The Tigers are certainly putting pressure on opposing bullpens. That was clearly Tuesday's key for them, getting starter Brian Bannister out of the game and getting to a Royals bullpen they had beaten up all series last week in Kansas City.

Bannister entered the seventh inning with what manager Jim Leyland called a "masterpiece." He held the Tigers to three singles and allowed Detroit's No. 3-4-5 hitters to go just a combined 1-for-8 through six innings.

Bannister made that 1-for-9 when he struck out Guillen to lead off the seventh, giving him the bottom half of the order to face. His pitch count was climbing, but not alarmingly so.

Six consecutive balls ruined those plans. They gave Brandon Inge a four-pitch walk and put Gerald Laird into a 2-0 count before he lined a 2-1 pitch into the gap in left-center field, scoring Inge and putting Detroit on the scoreboard.

Out came Royals manager Trey Hillman to pull Bannister, which they had discussed before the inning started.

"He lost it quick," Hillman said. "I was hoping he didn't lose it at all, because I was hoping he'd pitch all the way to Jack [Joakim Soria] if need be. But you can't very well put Jack in there for 2 1/3."

Instead, he had to put in former Tiger Roman Colon. And the Tigers had their opportunity.

"We hit their bullpen pretty good in Kansas City, so we knew if we can get to that middle relief and get their tough starters out of the game, we can score runs," Laird said. "Bannister, tip his cap, he pitched well for six innings, but we were able to knock him out and get to the bullpen, exactly what you want to do, and we scored a lot of runs."

Four of those runs were scored with two outs. For the second time in three days, one of them scored on a bases-loaded walk. None of them scored on anything more than a double. Guillen's hit was the only multi-RBI play in the bunch.

Damon's hit on a full count didn't even leave the infield. It rolled slowly between the pitching mound and first base, but he was speeding down the line to beat lefty reliever Dusty Hughes to the bag.

"I knew I was going to beat it as soon as it came off my bat, especially with the lefty falling off [the mound] ever so slightly," Damon said. "It put us in a good situation to get the big boys up."

Back-to-back walks followed -- first to Magglio Ordonez, then to Cabrera -- setting up Guillen to win it.

By no means does Leyland believe these wins build momentum. That's only as good as the next day's starting pitcher. That doesn't mean there isn't a mentality.

Comebacks weren't just a trait of Damon's good teams, he said. It was a strength.

"Never say die," Damon said. "Never quit. If you give up on games, you disappoint a lot of people. You disappoint your fans. It's easy to write about quitting. But I think everyone here understands the game. You play it out. You play hard. Fortunately for us, good things have been happening."

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

Tigers' chance for comeback foiled
Damon picks up 1,000th RBI in series-ending loss to Royals

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/14/10 8:05 PM ET

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DETROIT -- Jim Leyland wasn't trying to predict anything early Wednesday when he said the Tigers can't live on comebacks, just prior to their 7-3 loss to the Royals. Detroit's manager was simply stating the obvious from looking at the numbers. He was hoping the numbers could work in his club's favor for one more rally.

The opportunity was there. The runs weren't.

Technically, the Tigers had their comeback in the fifth inning, erasing a 3-1 deficit to tie the game. But with the bases loaded, including the tying run on third, and nobody out, they had the chance for much more than the two runs they managed.

The Tigers tied it, but they never owned the lead. Instead of getting closer once they fell behind again in the seventh, they fell further back each inning.

"We had a big shot in the fifth inning and we didn't get much out of it," Leyland said. "That hurt us. But you can't do it every time."

Detroit did enough to get out of this season-opening stretch with the solid start the club needed, a 4-2 homestand and a 6-3 record through its first nine games, all against Kansas City and Cleveland. The Tigers head out west Thursday to start not only an 11-game, 11-day road trip to Seattle, Anaheim and Texas, but a stretch of 20 straight games over 20 days in five different cities against teams that finished better than .500 last year.

The Tigers got the wins they needed out of this prelude stretch. They would've loved to have added one more and taken this series against the Royals.

A couple more runs in the fifth inning might have provided the momentum to do it. Instead of pouncing on the Royals' bullpen like they have so many times already, they had starter Kyle Davies arguably on the ropes with a rally that began with Adam Everett's leadoff double and heated up with Johnny Damon's double for the 1,000th RBI of his career.

Once Magglio Ordonez drew a walk, Davies had no open bases on which to put Miguel Cabrera, the reigning American League Player of the Week. Davies had his cutter, which gave Cabrera trouble on two swings. The first, he fouled back on a 1-0 count. The second was in his attack count, 2-1, and he grounded it to short to start a double play.

Ryan Raburn, hit by a pitch three batters earlier, scored to tie the game, but that was it. A flyout to left from Carlos Guillen got Davies out of the jam in close to a best-case scenario.

Cabrera has an absolutely odd hitting split. He's 7-for-15 so far in two-strike counts, including 5-for-5 on 0-2 pitches. He's just 1-for-5 when he puts the 2-1 pitch in play, and 1-for-7 after getting into 2-1 counts.

"It's a high-leverage situation, very stressful situation," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "[Davies] kept it together pretty good to get the pitches to get Cabrera to hit into that double play when he had to do it. The wheels could've come off very easily there."

They've come off plenty of other times over the past week and a half, thanks in part to Detroit's patient approach at the plate. On Wednesday, they were the last runs the Tigers managed. From there, the tables were turned.

Wednesday was the Royals' turn to rally off the Tigers' bullpen, paying the price for so many innings of relief the last several days. Rick Porcello overcame a 27-pitch first inning to get through the sixth, the first Tigers starter to do so since Dontrelle Willis pitched six last Thursday at Kansas City. He managed to salvage a quality start in 96 pitches despite 10 hits allowed.

With Joel Zumaya being rested after two innings Tuesday, Ryan Perry (0-1) entered to begin the seventh for his second outing in as many days. And a leadoff walk to David DeJesus turned into the go-ahead run without the need for a base hit.

Scott Podsednik's sacrifice bunt, one of five bunts the Royals either laid down or tried, and a Perry wild pitch put DeJesus in position to tag up on Billy Butler's fly ball to right. Ordonez's strong throw home nearly put Gerald Laird in position for a tag if he could've held onto the ball.

"I wanted to get it before the short hop," Laird said. "I knew that we might have a play, so I might've come back [to the plate] a little too soon. I got it in the web, but it was high in the web [of the mitt], and then when I tried to put it in my hand, I didn't really get the grip as I was trying to exchange.

"Right when I tried to put it in my hand to kind of brace it, I knew I didn't have it. It was kind of in between my hand and my glove, and I just tried to push it together. And when he came in, he slapped at the glove and knocked it out."

Jose Guillen's third home run of the series, a 403-foot blast to left on an elevated 0-2 pitch from Perry, started the add-on runs. By the ninth inning, there was no sign of a rally.

Can't do it all the time. But like that throw home, the Tigers felt like they had a chance.

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

Mariners come alive against Bonderman

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/17/10 2:40 AM ET

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SEATTLE -- For one turn through the Mariners' order, this looked like Jeremy Bonderman of 2005, only with an offspeed pitch. He faced one batter over the minimum, struck out four in a seven-batter stretch and was an out away from taking a scoreless duel with Felix Hernandez into the fourth.

The next time through the lineup, Bonderman had only one more out. By the next time through, Bonderman was gone, an already well-worked bullpen was in action and the Tigers were well on their way to an 11-3 loss on Friday night at Safeco Field.

It wasn't anywhere near how the Tigers hoped to open their 11-day, 11-game road trip, King Felix or no King Felix. In the end, it didn't look anything like how Bonderman's night was shaping up through the first couple innings.

"I just kind of fell apart," Bonderman said. "I don't know what happened, to be honest with you. I was throwing the ball well. I was locating really well. And all of a sudden, I just got the ball up a little bit."

The last time Bonderman pitched here in his home state was his last start in 2008 before his surgery. He was fighting numbness in his right hand to an extent nobody else really knew, which made his quality start that June 1 afternoon all the more impressive despite 12 hits allowed over seven innings.

He made just one start for the Tigers over the next year and a half, so simply getting back here in a healthy form was arguably a moral victory. It was going to be his only victory of the night.

His health seemed to show in his pitches. Bonderman hit 91 mph on his fourth and fifth pitches of the night, and spotted a 92-mph heater on the corner to strike out Franklin Gutierrez for the second out of the opening inning. His slider had as much bite as at any point since surgery. Just as impressive, the splitters he threw looked more like a polished product than a Spring Training experiment.

"Early in the game, he was locating really good," catcher Gerald Laird said. "His slider was tight. He was throwing some good splits."

Bonderman used fastballs and sliders to put 0-2 counts on Rob Johnson and Jack Wilson and struck out both of them to begin the third inning. Bonderman was rolling and feeling confident when he tried to get back-to-back fastballs by Ichiro Suzuki, who lined the second of them into left field for Seattle's first hit of the night.

"I think I actually made a really good pitch to Ichiro," Bonderman said. "He just kind of slapped it the other way, inside-out. The ball wasn't in enough."

The Mariners demonstrated an eagerness to run on Bonderman and Laird with their lone other baserunner to that point. Chone Figgins had taken off soon after reaching base via walk in the opening inning and stole second rather easily thanks to a large lead. Bonderman's delivery to the plate was timed at 1.6 seconds, Leyland said, well slower than average.

With two outs in the third, though, the Mariners probably weren't going to manufacture a run.

Bonderman said he wasn't overly concerned with Ichiro on the basepaths. Still, before Bonderman had thrown a pitch to Figgins, he threw over to first twice in a row to try to limit Ichiro's lead. The second time, he threw a ball in the dirt that skipped past first baseman Miguel Cabrera, bounced off the fence of the first-base stands and rolled back toward short right field as Ichiro pulled into second.

Bonderman, meanwhile, was losing what Leyland called one of the two key at-bats of his outings. He fell behind Figgins on a 3-0 count before getting a strike, then threw ball four as Ichiro stole third base without a throw.

Laird and Leyland were more concerned about the walk than the steal.

"Right there, in that situation, you can't worry about Ichiro, really," Laird said. "With no damage on the board, you just kind of have to go after the hitters. One more out, he's out of the inning."

Said Leyland: "There, you have to go right at him. If he gets a base hit, he gets a base hit."

Said Bonderman: "I had two outs. I should've been more aggressive to the plate to Figgins. I tried to get a ground ball. I went slider, slider, slider and fell behind. It just didn't work out."

Now Bonderman was a splitter or slider in the dirt away from plating Ichiro and giving up one run. But he was also an extra-base hit away from giving up two. An elevated pitch to Gutierrez left him with the latter, a triple to the fence in right-center field, before Jose Lopez singled in Gutierrez.

"You can't have two-out walks," Laird said. "They can always come back to hurt you."

Even so, the damage was mitigated when Cabrera doubled in two runs the next inning. Bonderman came back out down only a run, but walked Casey Kotchman on five pitches. That, Leyland said, was the other key at-bat, sparking two more runs with a bunt single, another bunt for a throwing error to plate a run, then a sacrifice fly.

Only two running catches from Magglio Ordonez in deep right field prevented worse damage in the fourth. Bonderman found no success in the fifth, when four straight singles and a bases-loaded walk knocked him out and essentially took the Tigers out of the game when all five of those runners scored.

"When you face a guy like Felix, the one thing you have to do is pitch well against him," Leyland said.

For a while, Bonderman did. It just turned awful way too quickly.

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

Verlander makes strides, but Tigers fall

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/18/10 1:50 AM ET

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SEATTLE -- Justin Verlander became the first Tigers starter to pitch into the seventh. That still didn't get him any closer on the scoreboard to his first win of the season. It might've gotten him closer in his pitching.

At some point during the third inning on Saturday night at Safeco Field, after Ichiro Suzuki scored for the second time, Verlander settled into his secondary pitches and settled into a groove, making the Mariners pay for sitting on his fastball. It kept him in the game long enough to watch the Tigers come back and tie the game, but it also kept him in long enough to give up Casey Kotchman's RBI double in the seventh that helped send Detroit to a 4-2 loss.

It was a two-sided result for Verlander, who had to see this game on a larger scale, even as the result gnawed at him.

"Definitely not happy with the end result. Somewhat pleased with the way I threw the ball," Verlander said. "I kind of need to combine where I've been."

It marked the third straight loss for what was once the comeback-crazy Tigers, and it marks the third consecutive season in which Verlander has gone winless in his first three outings. Yet, it might also be the second straight year that Verlander finds signs in Seattle that he's turning it around, even though Verlander sees this game as totally different than last year.

This loss doesn't have nearly the same impact as his trip here last April, when he took a no-hitter into the fifth and then watched the Mariners rough him up. It was quite the opposite, with Verlander on the verge of disaster early and then dominant later.

Essentially, last year's game was Verlander falling apart despite a great fastball. Saturday, the story was Verlander putting together a good game without his fastball.

"He got his fastball going the other day and didn't have his offspeed pitches," catcher Gerald Laird said. "Today, he seemed like he took a step forward with his offspeed pitches and just didn't have the command with his fastball.

"He's so close to putting it all together. I mean, he goes out there and gives up three runs tonight and threw seven innings and can't get a win."

Of the 28 pitches Verlander threw in the first inning, 20 were fastballs, including seven to Chone Figgins to strike him out. Most of those were at 96-97 mph, right around where he might sit in the middle of a game. The only pitch he made with nobody on base that inning was the first one, the one Ichiro lined into right field for a leadoff double before he stole third.

It was the second straight outing in which Verlander dialed up his velocity from the outset, and it isn't a place where he likes to be. But like the throw he made to second base from his backside for a forceout, it's what he had to do to compete.

But a funny thing tends to happen after those innings. He has a tendency to go into a pitch-conservation mode, where he racks up quick outs to try to save his pitch count. Sometimes, it gets him into his right frame of mind.

"It's definitely a conscious thing that I do," Verlander said, "and to be honest, my last couple starts I've tried to do that in the first inning, just kind of go into that mode where I get my rhythm and hit my spots and I go on from there. But Ichiro hit a leadoff double, and it's hard for me to go into that mode."

He truly didn't find a rhythm until the third, after Ichiro tripled and scored on a Figgins sacrifice fly. Starting with Figgins, Verlander retired 12 of Seattle's next 13 batters, none of them in three-ball counts. He used changeups, curveballs and sliders on first pitches to move ahead.

"That's just pitching," Verlander said. "You see them being really aggressive on the fastball, and you've got to start mixing in some other stuff. I started doing that. Curveball came along."

When Verlander dominated last summer, he could use pretty much any pitch for a strike, especially his curveball. That's why he called Saturday's outing a "big step forward" for his secondary pitches, even as he lamented his fastballs.

By the time he went out for the bottom of the seventh, he was back in a tie game thanks to Magglio Ordonez's fourth-inning solo homer and Johnny Damon's pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the seventh. He went back to the fastball to move ahead on Milton Bradley but barely missed on a 2-2 pitch that even left Bradley backing away.

"It was tough," Verlander said. "I thought I executed a pitch. But that's something you can't really dwell on. You have to focus on the next pitch after that, and I wasn't able to make the pitch. Obviously, that walk was the catalyst to that inning."

In this case, a breaking ball helped Bradley, because it gave him an extra split-second to steal second base. Kotchman followed with a drive to deep right that Ryan Raburn nearly caught at the fence before it popped out.

"I was right on it, had a good read," Raburn said. "I just thought I was a little closer to the wall than what I was, and I just took my eye off it for a split-second. That's how quick things will change."

If Verlander's fortunes change out of this outing, it could well be a victory in the long run.

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

Cabrera's birthday bash backs Scherzer

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/18/10 9:20 PM ET

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SEATTLE -- Miguel Cabrera celebrated his 27th birthday with a mammoth three-run homer. But there were plenty of other young Tigers who looked a little bit older, too.

Putting the potential tying run on base with a walk might have set up Ryan Perry's unraveling last year, he readily admits. Missing time and again on RBI opportunities might've spelled doom for the Tigers' offense all-around, let alone for a rookie leadoff hitter. A high pitch count in the first couple of innings led to short outings more than once for Max Scherzer in Arizona last season. Asking Alex Avila to throw out Chone Figgins last year might've been a tall order.

All of those young Tigers came through in Sunday's 4-2 win over the Mariners. It was Cabrera who put on a display, but it took a collective effort from far less proven youngsters for Detroit to salvage a game at Safeco Field and put an end to a three-game losing streak before it reached something far worse.

It's the kind of damage control that helped the Tigers stay in a playoff race until the very end last year. Now it's coming with clutch contributions from guys who learned about clutch performances last season.

"All year long in baseball, what you try to do is put together a few winning streaks -- five, six in a row -- and then stay out of long losing streaks," manager Jim Leyland said. "Over the course of a long season, if you can do that, you normally have a pretty good year. You might not win anything, but you'll have a pretty good year. But you have to stop [the losing streaks]."

Inexperience can add fuel to a losing streak in tough times, and it could have on Sunday. But at some point while the Tigers were trying to scrape out a lead for the first time all series, ability and confidence took over.

For seven innings, Cabrera's 403-foot drive to the second deck in left field stood as the Tigers' only hit with runners in scoring position. They were 1-for-11 with a handful of runners stranded, and two opportunities thwarted with two runners on and nobody out.

Jackson was on third base when Cabrera took Mariners starter Ian Snell deep in the third. Jackson didn't have far to go to put the Tigers on the board, but he just watched to see where the shot landed.

"You don't move for a second," Jackson said after the game. "You kind of take it in. I mean, I don't even know if he got all that ball. It just flew."

Cabrera said the swing felt almost effortless. He made a point coming up to the plate to be aggressive, and he got his chance. By contrast, when Jackson came up in the eighth inning to face hard-throwing Jesus Colome, he wasn't thinking of powering the ball. Scott Sizemore and Ramon Santiago had just tried to drive in an insurance run from third and failed -- Sizemore on a nice stop by Colome, Santiago on a grounder to third that caught Brandon Inge in a rundown.

All Jackson needed was a single, which was all he was thinking he might be able to do.

"When you have a guy in there throwing 97-98, you're not going to be turning on that too much," Jackson said. "In that situation, I'm just trying to look for a ball up. He's a good sinkerball pitcher, just look for a ball up and out of the zone and try to put the barrel on it. A guy throwing that hard, you don't have that much time to react."

Jackson's line drive carried just over first baseman Casey Kotchman and into right field as Avila came home, earning Jackson his first three-hit game in the big leagues. They couldn't get Santiago in from third, but simply one run made a world of difference.

"Changed the whole complexion of the game," Leyland said. "Sometimes people don't understand in baseball what a huge difference there is between a two-run game and a one-run game."

Perry had a pretty good idea. He was waiting in the Tigers' dugout the whole time, having entered in the seventh. His one pitch that inning ended up bunted hard to third baseman Inge for the final out.

Perry came back out firing, putting Jack Wilson and Ichiro Suzuki in 0-2 counts, but lost both of them. Wilson's infield single and Ichiro's walk put the potential tying run on base before Chone Figgins' sacrifice bunt advanced it into scoring position.

This is the nature of the setup role Perry wanted. Now he had to face the heart of the Mariners' order, Franklin Gutierrez and Jose Lopez, with a hit away from a tie game.

"I'm sure that ran through my head at one time," Perry said, "but what I'm learning to do better from last year is to just say, 'Hey, if he gets a hit, he gets a hit. That's just how it goes.'

"I'm able to just focus on pitching and not necessarily 'What if this happens?' And that's where last year I would get really mind-screwed."

A year ago, Perry said he probably would've followed up the Ichiro walk by simply throwing harder. He still threw hard to Gutierrez, but with a purpose, spotting a 96-mph fastball on the inside corner for a called third strike. After putting Lopez in an 0-2 hole with fastballs, he jammed him at 97 mph inside for a popout to right.

Veteran closer Jose Valverde took care of the ninth for his third save, but the youngsters got it to him, from those plays above to Sizemore's alert throw home to get Eric Byrnes at the plate.

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

Last Updated: April 18. 2010 9:42PM
Tigers 4, Mariners 2:
Max Scherzer helps Tigers salvage one win from series
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

Seattle -- There's work to do.

After a 5-1 first week, the Tigers had a 2-4 second week -- dropping series to Kansas City at home and Seattle on the road.

With a good start from Max Scherzer on Sunday, they beat the Mariners, 4-2, but with eight games left, this three-city trip is just beginning.

And for the Tigers to fare better in their upcoming games than they recently have, they have to score more runs, play better defense, and get solid starts from their starters.

That's all.

Just do everything better. Including the basics.

"We're still not playing the type of fundamental ball we need to play," manager Jim Leyland said. "We made some more mistakes that we just can't make. But it's good to make them in a winning cause."

Mistakes such as bunting to the first baseman instead of the third baseman. Taking a strike when you're supposed to swing. Not going on contact when you're supposed to go.

It all needs to be fine-tuned.

Easier said than done, but the way Scherzer pitched was a step in that direction.

Winning his first game as a Tiger, the right-hander allowed two runs on six hits in six innings, making the Mariners' offense look as anemic as it had been going into this series.

Actually it was only Friday night the Mariners really roughed up the Tigers in an 11-3 victory. Justin Verlander pitched presentably in Saturday night's 4-2 loss, but he didn't have the command of his fastball that he wanted.

And let's face it, five runs for the Tigers in the first two games here wasn't exactly a case of getting it done offensively. Nine in three, as well.

But they got a couple of huge hits Sunday.

The first was Miguel Cabrera's home run on his 27th birthday, a three-run shot in the third following singles by Austin Jackson and Johnny Damon.

Jackson also had a big day for the Tigers. In addition to a triple in the first and single in the third, he singled with two outs in the eighth, salvaging a run out of a chance that was slipping away from the Tigers.

After stranding a runner at third in the seventh, they put runners at second and third with no outs in the eighth on a walk to Brandon Inge and Alex Avila's double.

After a tapper to the mound and a grounder to third, however, the Tigers were on the brink of coming away empty. But Jackson looped a single to right to drive in Avila, making it a two-run lead. "It changed the entire complexion of the game," Leyland said.

The foundation beneath the offense, however, was the way Scherzer pitched. He was sharp, but the Mariners cost themselves with aggressiveness on the bases.

In the second, for instance, while taking a 1-0 lead on three consecutive one-out hits, they ran themselves out a scoring chance when Casey Kotchman, who singled in the run, got hung up between first and second.

With Kotchman in a rundown, Eric Byrnes broke from third to home, but was out when Avila did a good job of hanging onto the ball in a jarring collision.

Scherzer retired the next eight Mariners he faced before Kotchman came up again, and closed the gap to 3-2 with a solo home run to right in the fifth.

Ichiro Suzuki, who can spell trouble on the bases, led off the sixth with a single, but was running on the pitch that Chone Figgins lined to Magglio Ordonez in right. The throw to first easily beat a retreating Ichiro for the back end of a double play.

The Tigers wasted a leadoff triple by Jackson in the first and weren't able to take advantage of walks to Avila and Scott Sizemore to start the fourth.

In fact, they didn't come close to taking advantage of all their opportunities. But that's all part of the work to do.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100418/SPORTS0104/4180327/1129/Tigers-4--Mariners-2--Max-Scherzer-helps-Tigers-salvage-one-win-from-series#ixzz0lVbCvTGn

Cold bats cost Willis against Angels


By Jason Beck / MLB.com
04/20/10 2:30 AM ET

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ANAHEIM -- The ninth inning on Monday had the bizarre twist of the Tigers facing their former closer, Fernando Rodney. The first eight innings had to look painfully familiar.

On a night when Dontrelle Willis said he tried to set a tone for the other pitchers to match by holding down the Angels, his hitting teammates are trying to get out of a tone that's proving painfully hard for them to shake. In the end, while the Tigers will gladly take six innings of two-run ball from Willis, they had to take the 2-0 loss that went with it.

"When you hold them down like that, 2-0, it's a little frustrating," manager Jim Leyland said. "You feel like you should be able to muster a few runs somehow. We just didn't do it."

The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-3 on their 11-game road trip through the American League West. They've scored nine runs over the four games, including four runs in their victory on Sunday. By contrast, they scored eight runs on Opening Day on the road against the Royals and Zack Greinke.

Yet, they also head into the middle portion of this trip with the strong feeling they could have a lot more runs in their column if only for a couple more hard-hit balls finding more open spaces in the field.

"You look on paper, and you see us losing close ones," Brandon Inge said. "But when you actually watch the game from the side and you see how many good swings we put on, it wasn't like we were just going up there and striking out and having bad at-bats. We put some good swings on.

"It's just how it goes sometimes. You run into those stretches where it just doesn't really fall in the hole for you. But it's funny, on the flip side, games like that are why they say it's a game of inches. Literally a couple inches on a few of those balls and we could be throwing 10 runs up on the board. No way of knowing."

Nobody can feel that better than Alex Avila. On the same night Detroit's young catcher called a legitimately solid game with Willis, he felt like he just missed the hit that could've gotten him the run support to win it.

"I feel bad for Dontrelle," Avila said. "He pitched a great game."

Avila played a big part in this one. Together, he and Willis tried to work in a better mix of pitches than the fastball-heavy diet Willis showed in his previous couple starts. He can make his fastball move in enough different ways that he can use it like two or three different pitches, but he can do it better with a change of speeds.

Willis and Avila did that on Monday. And for that, Willis avoided the first-inning command struggles that had put him in trouble from the outset in both of his previous outings. There was no difference in preparation, according to everyone involved, but there was a different mix.

"He knew as well as I did that to have continued success throughout the whole year, you have to throw all your pitches for strikes in the right situations," Avila said. "Once he got in a rhythm, it was easy to call all his pitches."

Not only did Willis retire his first six batters; he didn't allow them to get a ball out of the infield. He ended a 1-2-3 first inning by sending down Torii Hunter swinging at a slider, then began the next by setting up Hideki Matsui with fastballs for a similar pitch on the outside corner for a called third strike.

"He was a little more confident in me than I was, to be honest," Willis said of Avila. "He called a great game today."

It took a nice swing and nice placement from Jeff Mathis, plus a cracked nail on Willis' right middle finger, to shake that in the third. After Howard Kendrick's leadoff single, Mathis sliced a line drive that landed just inside the right-field foul line and rolled into foul territory. Ordonez nearly had Mathis at second base, but his throw hit Mathis and rolled into center, allowing Kendrick to score.

Bobby Abreu drove in Mathis from there. Willis, who received treatment on his nail between innings from the third on, didn't show it in his pitching. However, that was all the Angels needed behind Joel Pineiro, even though all the Tigers needed was a few inches.

None know that better than Avila, whose second-inning line drive seemed destined for center field to score at least one run and maybe set up more.

"I was thinking line drive up the middle," Avila said. "I was thinking we're on the board right there. And then, out of nowhere, [Pineiro's] glove just goes up. It was definitely frustrating."

After going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position over their first seven innings on Sunday, the Tigers went 1-for-9 in those situations on Monday night. The lone hit was a Scott Sizemore grounder that ricocheted off Pineiro's foot for a seventh-inning single as Inge rolled into third with two outs, only to be stranded there.

Avila had his chance. So did Carlos Guillen, whose hard-hit comebacker with two outs in the eighth could've scored two runs had it gone through. Instead, Kevin Jepsen knocked it down to end the eighth, setting up Rodney's save.

The Tigers have seen those before. Unfortunately, they've also seen these days at the plate.

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

Tigers' rally falls short against Angels
Jackson's resiliency epitomizes comeback spirit

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/21/10 3:12 AM ET

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ANAHEIM -- They can't keep putting themselves behind and expect to come back, those rallying Tigers. Still, games like Tuesday's 6-5 loss make it tougher and tougher not to believe they can come back.

Games like the one Austin Jackson had make it easier and easier to believe in him.

For six innings, the Tigers were humbled, down six runs at one point on a night when the Angels blistered nearly every sinker Rick Porcello couldn't sink. Three innings later, they still ended up back at the .500 mark with their fourth loss in five games on this road trip, but only by a few feet of Miguel Cabrera power.

If there's a quality in wiping six or so bad innings from memory, the Tigers seem to have it. It doesn't erase those struggles from fact, but it allows them to concentrate on the task at hand with a clean slate. Jackson's night seemed to be a microcosm of it.

Jackson struck out in each of his first three at-bats, pushing him to the top of the American League over Boston's J.D. Drew. In the process, he became the first position player since at least 1952 to strike out in his first 13 Major League games, according to research on baseball-reference.com. The center fielder then made his first big league error in the sixth inning when Mike Napoli's single skipped by him to allow the runners to take an extra base.

It was shaping up as a night when Jackson looked like a rookie. Then came the final three innings, and a mentality that doesn't fit a rookie at all.

"It's definitely hard [to block it out]," Jackson said. "I know what's helped me is players coming up to me and calming me down a little bit, just giving me that confidence that you need at that time, just telling me to relax and don't worry about striking out or worry about the result."

In the top of the seventh, he didn't have to worry about swinging, but he had to calm himself down enough not to chase as Angels reliever Scot Shields struggled to find the strike zone. After Ramon Santiago battled his way to a one-out walk, Shields walked Jackson on four pitches. Two batters later, he lost Magglio Ordonez out of a full count to walk him and load the bases for Cabrera.

An inning earlier, the Tigers were still looking for their first runs of the series. Now, they had the potential tying run at the plate. After a first-pitch ball from Matt Palmer, Cabrera got his pitch to hit.

He didn't think he had the distance to hit it out, not on a cool, damp night in Southern California. He was just hoping it would find the gap and drop. Still, like the Tigers, it came awfully close, enough so that a four-run game changed in tone almost instantaneously as Cabrera's opposite-field shot hit off the right-field wall and the bases emptied.

Palmer walked Carlos Guillen from there; he escaped when Brandon Inge popped a 2-0 pitch up to short. Still, the Tigers were playing loose again, and the Angels had the pressure on.

Four Jackson plays -- two in the field, one at the plate, and another on the bases -- allowed them no chance to shake the pressure.

Much like Cabrera's drive to right-center, Juan Rivera lined a shot to the same area in the bottom of the inning, but not far enough to hit the wall. It also wasn't far enough to outrun the speedy Jackson, who ran it down in near-full sprint on the warning track.

"If the ball's hit out there, and I'm able to get to it, I'm going to try to make every play, keep them off the basepaths," said Jackson, who credited a last-minute defensive alignment from outfield coach Tom Brookens with putting him in better position.

It was an impressive catch, but one the Tigers are starting to gain confidence he can make.

"He's a really good center fielder," manager Jim Leyland said. "I can see that. He's a really good center fielder."

For all his strikeouts, he's also becoming a really tenacious hitter. He was a strike away from what would've been his fourth on the night, this one against Kevin Jepsen, when he fouled off five straight pitches, all of them off into the first-base seats.

On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Jackson got a ball far enough inside that he could line it to left-center for a two-out single that moved Santiago to third.

"That really showed me something," Leyland said. "He had a rough night, and he had a major step forward tonight."

His steps on the basepaths were another step moments later, when he took off and stole second to put the potential go-ahead run in scoring position. It was a call from Leyland to try to test the Angels. If it worked, they'd either have Jackson at second or maybe even a throw into the outfield to allow Santiago to tie game. If not, they'd have Johnny Damon lead off the inning.

Jepsen recovered to strike out Damon, but the impression was made. Another all-out running catch in the bottom of the inning, this one to close in on Napoli's short fly ball, was Jackson's final feat.

"On a night where it looked like he didn't have a really good night, in a different way, I thought he had a heck of a night," Leyland said.

It wasn't quite the same for the Tigers. As well as they played to get back in it, they fell behind once again.

"That's several times now we've fallen way behind, and you just can't do that," Leyland said.

Still, it's becoming tougher to believe they're out of it.

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

Cabrera homer sparks Tigers' rally in ninth
Santiago's RBI bloop single seals victory vs. Halos

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/22/10 1:04 AM ET

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ANAHEIM -- The Tigers took advantage of a new face closing for the Angels and opened yet another late-inning comeback. Miguel Cabrera's tying homer and Ramon Santiago's two-out, two-strike single to left brought Detroit back for a 4-3 win Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.

The Tigers had a 3-0 deficit five batters into the game thanks to a rough opening inning for Jeremy Bonderman. He held opponents hitless in the opening inning his first two starts this season, but gave up two walks, a Bobby Abreu RBI single and a Kendry Morales two-run homer in the first five batters.

Down three runs and flustered, Bonderman settled down from there for by far his best pitching so far this year. He gave up only a bunt single and two errors among his final 19 batters, striking out five of them.

In his younger years, that might have been enough to put him in line for a victory once the Tigers offense got going. However, Don Kelly's first Major League homer, a fifth-inning solo shot, and Carlos Guillen's RBI single in the sixth was the extent of Detroit's offense against Angels starter Jered Weaver.

Former Tiger Fernando Rodney had closed out Angels victories the last couple nights while Fuentes was finishing up his Minor League rehab assignment. With Fuentes activated from the disabled list, however, the Angels went to him with a 3-2 lead in the ninth against the middle of the Tigers order.

Cabrera worked the count full against Fuentes (0-1) before getting a straight 89 mph fastball over the middle of the plate. He drove it deep into the cool Southern California night and into the left-field seats for his fourth home run of the year.

Walks to Guillen and Gerald Laird put more trouble on base. Guillen was caught in a rundown between second and third base, but Laird alertly advanced in second on the play. From there, Santiago reached for an 0-2 pitch from Brian Stokes and lined it softly into left field. Laird beat the throw home from left fielder Juan Rivera.

Jose Valverde, who replaced Rodney as Tigers closer this offseason, finished out the bottom of the ninth for his fourth save. Phil Coke earned the win with a scoreless eighth.

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

Last Updated: April 22. 2010 2:27PM
Tigers 4, Angels 3:
Miguel Cabrera leads ninth-inning rally
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

Anaheim, Calif. -- There are good players, and there are special players.

Miguel Cabrera is good 'n special.

With a monstrous leadoff home run in the ninth on Wednesday night, Cabrera opened the way for the Tigers to tack on another run and beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 at Angels Stadium.

Ramon Santiago's two-out single on a 0-2 pitch from ineffective closer Brian Fuentes, just back from the disabled list, eventually drove in Gerald Laird with winning run.

"I looked bad on one of the pitches he threw to me," said Santiago. "That's why he threw me another just like it. But I was able to go down and get it."

It was Cabrera's long home run, however, that upset the crowd of 35,279 so much that it booed everything Fuentes did from that point on, almost as if it knew he'd unravel to the complete extent that he did.

"That's a world of power I know nothing about," Brandon Inge said of Cabrera's home run.

"I've told you there's no telling what this guy is capable of doing," manager Jim Leyland said of Cabrera. "We knew we were trading for a special player. We also knew we were signing a special player to a long-term contract."

The reason the Tigers were able to bounce back yet again is that they held the Angels to the three runs Jeremy Bonderman allowed in the first inning.

Bonderman not only settled down but came away from the game, finally, with the awareness that he can be successful without satisfying the urge to overpower hitters.

"This one felt good," he said about a start that began badly, but ended well. "As you can see, the velocity isn't really there, but I think I'm learning how to pitch.

"I did a good job after the first inning of changing speeds and keeping guys off balance."

Fuentes, meanwhile, kept no one off balance, angering fans who had seen former Tiger Fernando Rodney convert five consecutive save situations while Fuentes was on the DL.

But even if Mike Scioscia had been hesitant to use Fuentes in his first game back, he had no choice. Rodney wasn't available for a third game in a row.

After Cabrera's home run, Fuentes walked Carlos Guillen and Laird, the latter of whom advanced to second when Guillen was picked off second.

That actually worked in the Tigers' favor because Laird took from second "full throttle" on Santiago's single to left, something that Guillen might not have been able to do with one out.

With the lead, Jose Valverde retired the side in order in the ninth for his fourth save.

Going into the ninth, after being behind since the first, the Tigers were staring at another close defeat. They'd lost the first two games of this series by a total of three runs.

Bonderman's start began badly, but in the next five innings after the first he allowed just one hit, a bunt single in the third.

The Tigers pulled to within a run in the sixth on Cabrera's double off the wall in right, followed by a single to right from Guillen. Don Kelly's first major-league home run got them on the board against starter Jered Weaver in the fifth.

"Kelly crushed his home run," said Inge. "But if he crushed his, I can't begin to describe what Cabrera did on his home run."

Later that same inning, the Tigers loaded the bases on a pair of two-out singles and a walk, but Johnny Damon not only took a called third strike to end the inning, he was ejected for disputing the call -- just the fourth ejection of his career.

tom.gage@detnews.com

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100422/SPORTS0104/4220426/1129/Tigers-4--Angels-3--Miguel-Cabrera-leads-ninth-inning-rally#ixzz0lsLHFcSc

Tigers hold on to get Verlander first win
Righty needs 125 pitches to make it through five innings

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

04/23/10 3:18 AM ET

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ANAHEIM -- Justin Verlander needed 125 pitches over five innings to put himself in line for this win. Ryan Perry needed 27 pitches to strike out the side in the eighth and preserve it. Carlos Guillen fell over trying to score an insurance run because he strained his left hamstring.

It was that kind of night for the Tigers. For a change, they didn't need a comeback to salvage a series split against the Angels with Thursday's 5-4 win. But after building an early lead, they had to feel it took more out of them to hold on than it did to rally the night before.

"It felt like we were fighting an uphill battle all night long, even though we had the lead," manager Jim Leyland said. "It seemed like the game took eight hours. With Justin struggling the way he was, it felt like we were the ones that were behind, you know.

"But that showed me something. We hung in there. The bullpen came in and did great. We snuck out of here with a win that we wanted to get."

The Tigers have grown accustomed to that feeling of trailing and then rallying. They entered Thursday with more wins when trailing after six innings (five) than when leading after six (three). They had just four games in which they scored first, and they had won just two of them. And they had furious comebacks the previous two nights against the Angels' bullpen.

Yet one night after they scored two ninth-inning runs off closer Brian Fuentes, they pounced on Angels starter Joe Saunders for five runs in the first three innings, including their first second-inning run of the season. Johnny Damon and Magglio Ordonez scored each of their first two times at bat, banging out three of Detroit's six hits off Saunders and chasing off the left-hander with two outs in the third.

With their ace Verlander on the mound, it seemed all set up for a win to salvage a split of the four-game series. Yet it took not only every last pitch out of Verlander, but four other relievers to finally put down the Halos and knock the rally monkey racket off the scoreboard at Angel Stadium.

Two starts ago, Verlander had his fastball working, but couldn't do anything with the rest of his repertoire. In his last start last Saturday at Seattle, Verlander had his breaking ball and changeup working but no idea where the fastball was going.

By his own estimation, when he took the mound with a two-run lead Thursday, he had nothing.

"The first, second and third, I was a mess," Verlander said. "Not a mess, but you know, I was all over the place. [It was] everything. I have some mechanical issues that I need to correct."

It took eight batters and 36 pitches, including a game-tying single from Kendry Morales, for Verlander to get out of the opening inning. He was at 81 pitches through three innings before recovering a bit by retiring the side in order in the fourth. Fittingly enough, he was in pitch-conservation mode on Earth Day, and the Angels knew it.

Leyland was determined to try to get Verlander through five innings, not only to conserve his taxed bullpen but also to get Verlander eligible for the win. But after an 11-pitch at-bat to get a groundout from Torii Hunter leading off the fifth, then a 10-pitch battle with Hideki Matsui that ended with a home run, Verlander was down to his last two batters.

"[Matsui] and Torii had two of the best at-bats I've seen in a long time," Verlander said.

Once Maicer Izturis lined to new left fielder Don Kelly for the final out in the fifth, Verlander was at 125 pitches. He became the first Tigers pitcher to throw that many pitches in five innings or less since at least 1991, and the first Major League pitcher to do that and get a win out of it since Cal Eldred did it for Milwaukee against Detroit in 1997.

It wasn't exactly a point of pride for him.

"I really don't feel like I deserve this win," Verlander said. "I think that goes to our ballclub, our hitters, our bullpen especially. I think our bullpen tonight did a fantastic job, came in and really closed the door in some tough situations. That being said, I was really pleased to hang in there and give us a chance."

As the Tigers' bullpen tried to preserve that one-run lead, they had to feel doubly cursed by Guillen's misfortune. He nearly tacked on another run when he doubled in the fifth ahead of Scott Sizemore's single. However, he seemed to take a bad step rounding third base, fell a few steps later and strained his hamstring. What would've been an extra run instead became a tagout between third and home, and Guillen was headed for the disabled list.

More than once, that run seemed destined to haunt them, especially as Perry battled three different Angels hitters to try to get the final out. A 2-2 pitch to Howard Kendrick ended up an infield single, then Perry hit Juan Rivera with another 2-2 pitch. Again on 2-2 to Erick Aybar, the 23-year-old spotted a 96 mph fastball on the outside corner for the third out, handing the lead to Jose Valverde for his fifth save.

"It was definitely an exciting game," Perry said. "It's what people want to see."

It might not have been what the Tigers wanted to see as they awaited a flight to Texas, which was set to arrive at 6 a.m. CT. But they'll gladly take it.

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