The difference between a boisterous postgame Detroit Tigers locker room, like the one seen following Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, and what could’ve been a sullen, somber plane ride to Detroit might have come down to an eighth-inning check swing. Until Miguel Cabrera‘s sixth-inning home run against the Baltimore Orioles yesterday, the Tigers had been held scoreless for 17 frames. Adam Jones tied the game on a double that sailed just over the head of 6-foot-7 left fielder Steve Moya and Jonathan Schoop knocked in two more with a bases-loaded single. With a record of 15-19 and the team in a major slump, is it safe to say the season is a lost cause?
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Schoop set a career high with five RBIs during the game, and he now has seven homers and a. 492 slugging percentage this season. Most importantly, the rookie kept Baltimore within striking distance. “I’m proud of the way we’ve been going about our at-bats and not just giving in or going up there and hacking when we get down”.
O’Day had allowed just one home run this season through 61 batters before allowing back-to-back homers to Martinez and Cabrera, who, despite the Tigers’ recent struggles, are a part of one of the league’s top power-hitting lineups.
CUBS 9, PIRATES 4: Addison Russell, David Ross and Kris Bryant homered in a win at home as Chicago stopped its first losing streak of the season – a two-game skid, both losses in a doubleheader sweep by San Diego on Wednesday.
“That costs games. If we lose the division by one game, there’s no telling what that costs”. “I think personal things are all cool and fine and dandy if you go out there and play and perform every day, things like this tend to happen”. “His pitch count was down. I don’t think he was tiring”. Jones answered in the bottom of the inning by leading off with a solo shot against Drew VerHagen.
Brad Brach yielded a run in the eighth but got three outs in the ninth for his first save. 350 at Camden Yards, he went 2-for-4 with two runs scored tonight.
Detroit chased Jimenez during a two-run sixth that featured RBI singles by Cabrera and Martinez. He broke in on a liner in the sixth inning but retreated in time to make the catch. “You can’t win that way”.
It was obvious from the early innings of this game that even a single run might make the difference, even one swing of the bat from either side. Overall, the right-hander allowed five hits and struck out seven with two walks in his fourth straight victory.
Before the game, a reporter asked Ausmus if the skidding, fourth-place Tigers simply might not be that good.
“When you’re out there trying to do your job to the best of your ability-I’m trying to pitch, he’s trying to unpire-somebody dropped the ball today”.
Tigers: Jordan Zimmermann (5-2, 1.50 ERA) starts against Minnesota on Monday night in the opener of a nine-game homestand.
“Chris has got a good feel right now”, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.
Tigers: RHP Shane Green (blister) traveled with the team, but there are no plans yet for him to begin a rehabilitative assignment.
“He was good”, Ausmus said of his starter.
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“Who would you put back there”, he said. Justin Verlander appears to be getting on track (1 ER in last 15 IP), but Anibal Sanchez (5.91 ERA) and Mike Pelfrey (5.80 ERA) have been nothing short of very bad.
