Saturday, May 19, 2007

Tigers Hold On to Beat Cardinals

The Tigers took their 2nd game in two nights from the Cardinals but this one was not as easy. The Tigers took a 6-0 lead when Pudge Rodriguez homered with two men on in the 3rd and it looked like the rout was on again. However, Cardinal starter Anthony Reyes settled down and the Cardinal hitters chipped away at the lead. They scored one in the 4th and one in the 5th against Nate Robertson. Wilfredo Ledezma came in to pitch the 6th and gave up two more runs and the Cardinals were back in the game at 6-4.

Rodriguez lead off the Tigers 6th with a double and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Craig Monroe making it 7-4. The Cardinals pulled to within 2 again with a run in the top of the 7th but the Tigers came right back when Gary Sheffield lined a solo homer to left in the bottom of the inning. Fernando Rodney pitched a acoreless 8th and it was 8-5 going into the 9th.

Roller coaster Jones entered the game for one of those easy 3 run lead with nobody on base saves. This one wouldn't be easy though. Jim Edmunds singled to lead off the inning and Adam Kennedy then walked with one out. With two outs, Aaron Miles got a pinch single to make it 8-6. Scott Spiezio then lined a double down the third base line to make it 8-7. It was his 4th hit of the game. Albert Pujols was walked to load the bases and it was up to slumping Scott Rolen. Jones calmly gor Rolen to pop to third baseman Brandon Inge and the game was over.

The Cardinals had plenty of opportunities to do more damage as they had 15 hits and drew 8 walks. They couldn't get the big hits though and left 16 men on base. The Tigers, on the other hand, had 12 just base runners but they were much more efficient and left only 4 men on base.

Curtis Granderson, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, Rodriguez and Sean Casey each had 2 hits. Casey now has 6 hits in the series against the same Cardinals he hit so well in the World Series last year. Hopefully, this is the start of more consistent hitting by Casey. He is currently batting .248/.300/.310.

The Tigers will go for a sweep tomorrow afternoon when Justin Verlander opposes Brad Thompson. Verlander pitched one of his best games as a Tiger the last time when he held the sizzling Red Sox to 2 runs in 7 2/3 innings on Tuesday.

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