Tigers blanked by Royals

Last year, Brian Bannister had a 2.55 ERA in three appearances versus the Tigers and came away with two wins. He continued to stymie the Bengals today with seven shutout innings in a 4-0 Royals victory. Bannister held the Tigers to two hits and walked nobody. It took only 85 pitches for him to get through the seven frames. Leo Nunez and Joakim Soria followed with one scoreless inning apiece to complete the shutout.

Kenny Rogers pitched well for the Tigers allowing two runs in six innings (both in the sixth) on five hits and one walk. It was a positive performance for a 43 year old pitcher coming off a year where his health limited him to 63 innings. Zach Miner pitched a scoreless eighth but then gave up two runs in the eighth. Yorman Bazardo pitched a scoreless ninth.

The Tigers managed just three singles today, all by Edgar Renteria. That's it. The offense is struggling in the early going but you can be sure that it will come around. It's true that every game counts the same whether it's April or September but it's also true that even the best teams have days where they don't hit. So, I'll continue to be more concerned about the pitching (which has been decent so far) than the hitting.

Notes:

According to MLB.COM, Curtis Granderson will have x-rays taken on his injured finger on Saturday but, even if they come out OK, he is not going to be rushed back. He is not going to take batting practice until he can swing and miss without pain. The story also says that he will have another x-ray taken in two weeks. That seems to suggest that he is going to be out for a while.

Mario Impemba and Rod Allen mentioned on today's broadcast that Jeremy Bonderman was feeling ill today and was sent home by Jim Leyland. He is still scheduled to pitch tomorrow's game versus the Royals.