Detroit Tigers: The Consistency of Inconsistency

When the Detroit Tigers are hot, they’re hot; but, when they’re not, they’re rather unfortunate to watch. Today’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates was one of those unfortunate games. And today’s king of the unfortunate game was Justin Verlander.

After a successful spring training and Opening Day game, JV showed that there is still a bit of the old (or is it new?) Verlander left in that right arm. Is it cause for alarm? Most likely not.

While only the Pirates and their fans enjoyed Verlander’s pitching today, there was a brief silver lining to the game: the bullpen. After JV left the mound, the bullpen did not allow any more runs. They even got a few strikeouts. Logan Kensing is continuing to show that he is a gem as he pitched two innings, allowing three hits, but no runs. Mark Lowe and Kyle Ryan also showed their value holding the Pirates. Unfortunately, Verlander now has a shocking 8.71 ERA.

At MCB, we are waiting to hear the news about James McCann and his ankle injury. While he was baserunning in the fifth, he visibly slipped on a base and rolled his ankle. As of publishing, the story from the Tigers is that McCann has a right ankle sprain. The good news is that he was able to leave the game without any help walking; hopefully, the sprain is minor.

One of the most exciting statistics of the game was not on the diamond but in the seats. One Detroit Tigers fan was able to catch five foul balls.

After hearing the game attendance of approximately 26,000 fans, it is easy to see why it was so easy for one man to nab so many foul balls. Rumor has it that he gave all of his catches to kids sitting near him.

Nick Castellanos continued his hitting streak; even though he went one-for-four today, his one was a home run in the second inning. This remained the only score until J.D. Martinez hit his first home run of the season in the 5th inning.

All-in-all, watching the Tigers get pummelled by the Pirates was just another game that exposed the weaknesses that still exist. The biggest weakness of all is inconsistency. Even though the team did end up scoring a semi-respectable four runs, the offense just could not scrape together the last three.

Next: Do the Big Contracts Equal Big Wins?

Maybe the inconsistency will be the one constant that fans can expect for the next 157 games. Time will tell. For now, fans have to sit back and wait until the next game against the Pirates, Tuesday at 1:10 PM.

Read more about your favorite baseball team at Motor City Bengals.