The Detroit Tiger Weblog

Game 2014.24: Tigers 8, Royals 2

Written by

Smoking Loon

in

,

And now, another DTW Exclusive:

THE LINEUP

2B Ian Kinsler
RF Torii Hunter
1B Miguel Cabrera
DH Victor Martinez
CF Austin Jackson
3B Don Kelly
LF J.D. Martinez
C Alex Avila
SS Andrew Romine

P Rick Porcello

POSTGAME: At Kauffman Stadium this evening, the Detroit Tigers American League baseball club scored 8 runs, and the Kansas City Royals American League baseball club scored 2 runs. After some deliberation, it was determined that the Detroit Tigers had won the contest.

YOU SAID IT

Vince in MN May 2, 2014 at 10:36 pm

This is gonna be his breakout year. And if not this year, next year.

Meaning 4-1 Rick Porcello, of course, who earned the win with 7 IP, 0 serious earned runs, and 19 near-strikeouts, all while throwing only 50 pitches, give or take.

Comments

36 responses to “Game 2014.24: Tigers 8, Royals 2”

  1. Vince in MN Avatar
    Vince in MN

    http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/phil-rogers-competitive-balance-reigns-to-begin-season?ymd=20140502&content_id=74087586&vkey=news_mlb

    Good argument (besides the extra revenue of course) for expanding the playoffs to 16 teams 😉

  2. Coleman Avatar
    Coleman

    I’m glad we are keeping with the “3rd baseman bats 6th,” wouldn’t want to mess with that formula.

    1. Vince in MN Avatar
      Vince in MN

      Keeps the R-L-R-L-R-L formula going too. Unfortunately we are stuck with the anti-formula R-R-R-R in the 9-3 slots.

  3. Coleman Avatar
    Coleman

    Wow the Indians are pounding Danks and the White Sox: 5 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, 42 pitches…in the 1st inning!

  4. Coleman Avatar
    Coleman

    Alex Avila?? We’ll take it!

  5. jud Avatar
    jud

    Hopefully the pressure Holaday is putting on him miight help Avila to actually produce some instead of the two year free ride he is on. I hate that we have to refer back two full years ago to a time he actually produced!

    1. Vince in MN Avatar
      Vince in MN

      Pressure? What Pressure? Remember who his daddy is.

  6. Vince in MN Avatar
    Vince in MN

    Porcello at 87 pitches after 6. Another batter or two and then it will be time to go to the bullpen. We needs some runs here.

    1. Coleman Avatar
      Coleman

      Victor says “you’re welcome.” Victor Martinez is one good hitter.

      1. Smoking Loon Avatar
        Smoking Loon

        Night Of The Living Martinezes. The key is to separate them in the lineup.

  7. Vince in MN Avatar
    Vince in MN

    Miggy doesn’t need to talk to his swing, he needs to talk to Victor.

  8. jud Avatar
    jud

    Good to see us wearing our hitting shoes today!!….

    1. Coleman Avatar
      Coleman

      Leave it to Rod to credit it to “warm weather.”

      1. Vince in MN Avatar
        Vince in MN

        The bats are heating up. One has to ask why the KC bats aren’t heating up, since it is their warm weather.

    2. Vince in MN Avatar
      Vince in MN

      I can live with an 8-7 win tonight.

      1. Coleman Avatar
        Coleman

        This might be the start where Porcello finishes 7.

  9. jud Avatar
    jud

    Porcello is only 26 years old….Another nail in the Porcello bashers coffin…this isn’t the last time he is going to do this!!!!

    nice job AGAIN Ricky!!!

    1. Vince in MN Avatar
      Vince in MN

      This is gonna be his breakout year. And if not this year, next year.

      1. jud Avatar
        jud

        Agree…most 26 year old pitchers are just learning pitching!!!. RICK Is a 5 year guy…

      2. jud Avatar
        jud

        Thats true also!!! Best part is the pen is at least making some progress despite the need for Coke to do well…we are going on a year and a half since the 2012 playoffs since he has contributed anything

  10. Vince in MN Avatar
    Vince in MN

    What, no Phil Coke? I guess the lead isn’t big enough.

    1. Brad in ct Avatar
      Brad in ct

      There is no lead big enough. I know everyone here already said that to themselves.

  11. Vince in MN Avatar
    Vince in MN

    Anybody know Cabrera’s avg number of pitches per at bat. It must be the lowest on the team.

    1. Coleman Avatar
      Coleman

      Less than Kinsler? He hacks at everything.

      1. Vince in MN Avatar
        Vince in MN

        Can we get our reference librarian onto this one? I read somewhere a week or so ago that the Tigers are being very efficient at the plate – lowest in Ks in MLB(!) and best BA in AL, so they are putting the ball in play effectively. But I don’t know how that relates to pitches/PA.

    2. Coleman Avatar
      Coleman

      OK, here we go, pitcher per plate appearance:

      3.45 Hunter
      3.50 Kinsler
      3.63 Cabrera
      3.89 League average

      On the other side:
      4.43 Avila
      4.23 Martinez
      4.22 Jackson

      1. Vince in MN Avatar
        Vince in MN

        Thanks. So Cabrera is below league average. Is that less than his career average?

        1. Coleman Avatar
          Coleman

          A little, he is 3.75 career.

          A lot of the best hitters see the fewest pitches and vice versa–guys that strike out a lot see a lot of pitches (see Avila). Victor sees a lot of pitches AND hits well, no wonder the Red Sox wanted him.

          1. Vince in MN Avatar
            Vince in MN

            Well, it seems odd. Miggy has walked 6 times in 24 games, which puts him on pace to walk about 40 (!) times this season. However, the Tigers are 13th in the league in BB, so maybe the team hitting strategy has dramatically changed from previous years and they are just being much more aggressive in the box as well as on the base paths.

            1. Coleman Avatar
              Coleman

              It is odd that our three guys who see the fewest pitches are the 1-2-3 hitters. That must make for some quick first innings!

              1. Smoking Loon Avatar
                Smoking Loon

                Things haven’t changed much since last check. Tigers are batting .186 (.478 OPS) in 1st innings. And those BAs belong to the you know who’s.

                Contact and ball in play rates are things to look at in conjunction with pitches/PA.

              2. Smoking Loon Avatar
                Smoking Loon

                If I’m not mistaken, V-Mart hasn’t walked much this season, either.

  12. jud Avatar
    jud

    I hope not using Coke here is because when Hannrahan is ready Coke is gone…plus we need to keep getting Krol some work!

    1. Vince in MN Avatar
      Vince in MN

      Hanrahan won’t be ready for at least five weeks. I hope Coke isn’t taking up a roster spot for that long.

  13. Vince in MN Avatar
    Vince in MN

    An easy inning for Reed. That should secure his roster spot for an appearance or two. Maybe he’ll heat up with the weather too.

  14. Smoking Loon Avatar
    Smoking Loon

    Porcello was dynamite, and I was floored to see him back out for the 7th.
    Krol, 3 groundball outs, try to remember “Miggy = first baseman, not catcher.”
    Reed, fastest pitched 9th inning by a Tiger since 1903.
    Avila still makes it look easy when he takes one out.
    Cabrera had a good day, having lots of fun, even the outs were good ones except for the strikeout, and hey, it’s James Shields.
    Kinsler not really hitting and still on base 3 times.
    Romine smooth at SS and hitting some line drives.
    Kelly should really be in some of those Head and Shoulders commercials.
    J.D. was swinging it like Castellanos. Imagine two of those in the lineup.
    Jackson is so cool.
    Is Hunter really losing it in RF, or does positioning have something to do with it? I’ll take that bat nonetheless.
    Victor with multiple double doubles, not single doubles! Defenses always positioned so well against him, and still they can’t stop him.
    Porcello just owns Alciedes Escobar.
    Every team the Tigers face seems to have a better defensive CF, and yet Jackson remains our guy. Not complaining, just goes to show you how attached you can get to a player.
    We’ve seen it before – the Tigers can get to Shields, and it really seemed to get under his skin tonight, didn’t it? It’s good to see Detroit giving a really good starting pitcher a really hard time for more than an inning.
    A Tigers-Royals game without a stolen base attempt is to be considered an oddity, as is a margin of victory > 1.

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