Rapid Reactions: Tigers Take Finale Versus Yanks

Detroit 6, New York (AL) 3 (box)

• Rick Porcello battled through a long, difficult third inning but otherwise was very impressive in holding the Yankees to two earned in seven innings today. That’s four straight strong starts for Porcello and six consecutive quality starts for Tigers pitchers.
• The offense was held without a hit (but not without a run) until Ramon Santiago singled to lead-off the sixth. Brennan Boesch tied the game at two with a clutch two-out single to score Santiago.
• Moving Boesch up to third in the order seems to have jump-started his bat. He was just 3-for-35 coming into yesterday’s game, but delivered two hits last night and two more today. Boesch drove home the first Tigers run with a sac fly in the first and added a solo homer to cap the Tigers scoring in the eighth. Big hitter, that Boesch… long.

• The win was the third straight for Detroit, following a seven-game skid. The major factor was the pitching. The Yankees came into the series with 45 home runs in 25 games this year, but were held to one in the four game set with Detroit. Tigers starters held the Yankees to five earned runs over 27 innings of work in the four games.
• For all the talk about Don Kelly batting lead-off, he was involved in a lot of the Tigers scoring today. Kelly reached base when he was hit by a pitch in the first and scored the first Tigers run. Later, he dropped a sacrifice bunt that lead to Boesch’s RBI single. Kelly’s groundball in the seventh wound up scoring two runs when Eduardo Nunez‘s throw sailed too high for Mark Teixeira to corral. Plus, Kelly was the post-game interview on the Tigers radio network, so he’s got that going for him… which is nice.

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