Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Tigers Have a Winning Streak

For the first time since July 19th when they finished a sweep of the Twins, the Tigers have won back to back games. It's only the Devil Rays and neither win was easy but right now Tigers fans will take any kind of win. In this one the Tigers built up a 6-1 after 6 innings, saw the Rays tie it up in the 8th and then took it back with a 3 run 8th of their own. The final was Tigers 9 and the Rays 6.

Nate Robertson pitched his best game since early in the season. He allowed 3 runs in 7 2/3 but pitched better than that looks. Curtis Granderson lost a fly ball in the lights in the 7th and it turned into a triple for Jonny Gomes who eventually scored. in the 8th inning Robertson was removed from the game with a man on and two outs even though he was only at 96 pitches and did not seem to be tiring. Jason Grilli promptly gave up 2 singles and grand slam to Gomes and the score was tied 6-6. Robertson allowed 9 hits but no walks and pitched well with men on base. He also had a season high 9 strikeouts.

Ryan Raburn lead off the bottom of the 8th for the Tigers with a double. It was his third hit of the game. Craig Monroe then got hit by the pitch on what was supposed to be a bunt attempt. Brandon Inge sacrificed the runners to second and third. Granderson then hit a slow roller to second and Raburn was safe at home on the throw. Dioner Navarro had the plate blocked but Raburn eluded him by standing up instead of sliding. Placido Polanco and Sean Casey followed with RBI hits and the Tigers were up 9-6.

Todd Jones pitched a scoreless 9th allowing just one hit to close it out. This one wasn't pretty but the Tigers now have a 2 game winning streak at last. They will try to build on it tomorrow night when Chad Durbin (who is taking Andrew Miller's spot in the rotation) takes on James Shields.

Notes:

The Indians beat the White Sox 2-1 today to remain a half game ahead of the Tigers.

Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco had 3 hits apiece. Ichiro Suzuki also had 3 hits for Seattle tonight. The batting race now looks like this:

Ordonez .354
Polanco .346
Suzuki .346

Ryan Raburn's 3 hit game puts him at .380 in 50 at bats.

Marcus Thames was the Toledo designated hitter in his first rehab game tonight. The game is in the 8th inning and he has a single in 4 trips. He will play first base tomorrow and could be back with the Tigers as soon as Thursday.

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