The Tigers Have One Crappy Bullpen

Detroit 5, New York 11 (box)

The Yankees took the final three games against the Tigers, finishing off the series by plating nine runs in the sixth inning today.

Miguel Cabrera homered to give Detroit a 2-0 lead and the Tigers racked four hits before the Yankees managed one against Rick Porcello. Unfortunately, when the Yankees finally broke through, the floodgates soon opened.

New York tied the score with a pair of runs in the fourth, then busted out the whooping sticks in the sixth.

Porcello gave up a lead-off walk which was followed by a double, then another walk, then a single before he was yanked from the game. Daniel Schlereth was no relief.

Let me stop right here and say that this is why the Tigers are struggling this year. This bullpen. The same bullpen that thrived early in the season has fallen apart. Joel Zumaya‘s injury cannot be talked about enough when discussion the demise of the Tigers. Let’s not forget the losses of Bobby Seay and Zach Miner. Put all three together with Coke, Valverde, and Perry and this would be an excellent ‘pen. Instead you have to hope that guys like Schlereth, Gonzalez, Bonine, and Weinhardt can get you through. Not gonna happen.

So as I was saying Schlereth came in and immediately threw gas on the fire by walking Curtis “I can’t hit a left hander to save my life” Granderson. Schlereth out, Weinhardt in. Weinhardt gave up a double to Austin Kearns that scored two, then he after finally recording an out, he walked the next guy, allowing a run to score on a passed ball.

Another aside, why is it during every “blow up” inning the Tigers have, that there is a passed ball involved? Doesn’t matter who the catcher is, if the games getting away, Laird and Avila do their best to help out.

Anyway, Weinhardt then served up a two-run triple to Derek Jeter before he was removed from the game, giving way to Bonine (aka “the human white flag”).

Bonine got the first man he faced, holding Jeter at third, but instead of escaping with no further damage (not that it would have mattered at that point), Bonine tossed up a meatball to Robinson Cano for a two-run bomb. Another hit followed but Bonine finally recorded the final out of the sixth.

The Tigers put together some offense after the game was out of hand, it was nice to see Brennan Boesch come up with an RBI single in the eighth. All told though, the Tigers are still struggling and this game showed everyone exactly why they are.