Recap: Early Offense is Enough

Justin Verlander was staked to an early lead, and he did the rest as the Tigers won tonight’s series opener vs the Cleveland Indians, 4-0.

The Tigers got just enough offense for JV in the first inning, getting key two-out hits from Delmon Young and Brennan Boesch, two player who have proven to be very polarizing in the clutch. Each singled with 2 outs to provide the 2 first inning runs for the Tigers.

Avila walked to open the second inning, and after advancing on a Omar Infante groundout, Alex scored on a subsequent Austin Jackson double. Miguel Cabrera would later single in Jackson, providing the Tigers with all the necessary offense for the game tonight.

Verlander would take care of the rest himself.

JV went 7 innings tonight, giving up 6 hits and walking 1, and striking out 6. He would work himself into his only real trouble in the game by giving up 2 base hits in each of the 5th and 6th innings, putting runners at scoring position each time. Jason Donald and Casey Kotchman would end those innings respectively, with groundouts.

Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde pitched the 8th and 9th innings without incident and helped Verlander lock up his 14th win of the season.

Game 2 of the 3 game set is tomorrow afternoon at 4:05 ET, pairing Anibal Sanchez vs Justin Masterson. It is a FOX broadcast.

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