Detroit Tigers Can’t Complete Sweep, Drop Finale to Mariners 2-0

Mariners 2, Tigers 0 (box score)

Apr 13, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (35) pitches in the sixth inning against the Oakland Athletics at O.Co Coliseum. The Tigers defeated the Athletics 7-3. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

You always like the Detroit Tigers’ chances when Justin Verlander is on the mound, and you like the chances even more when the the opponent is the light-hitting Seattle Mariners. But, through really no fault of Justin’s, Thursday afternoon wouldn’t be the day the Tigers completed their first series sweep of the season.

Verlander was his usual self — or perhaps even better — on this particular afternoon. He ran into a spot of trouble in the seventh inning when Seattle was able to string together a series of hits to plate three runs, but there’s nothing to complain about in his final line of seven innings, 12 strikeouts, one walk, and zero home runs allowed. It was probably a little bit of bad luck that that line resulted in two runs allowed, but it’s probably a bit more bad luck that the offense couldn’t even muster a single run of support.

Prince Fielder broke out of his brief but severe slump to go 2-4 with a double, but other than him, only Miguel Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, and Don Kelly could scratch out single hits (all singles). Oh, and Victor Martinez walked twice.

Bullets

•  The bats were unimpressive in the series (though I’ll take the series win), but the pitching continued to be excellent. Detroit pitching struck out 40 batters over the course of these three games.
• Tigers are 9-6 now which is 97 win pace.