May 1, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez (19) pitches in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Anibal Sanchez is the current WAR leader in all of baseball according to FanGraph’s FIP-based calculation. He was this past offseason’s $80 million man, and he was, perhaps, The Detroit Tigers’ best pitcher in the postseason. We now clearly see the pitcher the Tigers were trading for as they prepared for the stretch run a season ago, but Sanchez’s tenure in Detroit started just about as poorly as one could imagine.

After being acquired in late July last year, Sanchez got hit around in his first four starts with Detroit. In those games he posted a strikeout rate below six per nine innings, a WHIP over 2.10, and an ERA just shy of 8.00. Detroit went 1-3. Needless to say, Tigers fans were beginning to bemoan the giving up of their top pitching prospect and top catching prospect for this “bum”.

An off day in the schedule allowed the Tigers to skip a pitcher’s spot in the rotation, and they decided to bump Sanchez. He reportedly spent the week with pitching coach Jeff Jones in an attempt to fix his woes. I don’t know if Sanchez was simply putting too much pressure on himself as “the guy” brought in to lead the Tigers to the playoffs, if he was struggling to adjust to life in the DH league, if he had some mechanical issues to work out with the pitching coach, or simply was having a string of bad outings. Whatever the case, Sanchez immediately snapped out of his slump upon his return and been lights out ever since.

Since that skipped turn in the rotation, Anibal has made 17 starts (including playoffs) with 114.1 innings pitched and a 1.97 ERA. In this current stretch he’s fanned 112 batters, alowed just four home runs, and posted a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 4.5-to-1.

It’s probably impossible to have a 100+ inning stretch of sub-2.00 ERA pitching without benefitting from luck in some form, but Sanchez’s 1.97 ERA is backed up by a FIP in the 2.25 range.

I don’t think there’s any way we could expect him to continue to put up these type of numbers – or even an ERA under 3.00 – but we’re definitely seeing that the Tigers gave him $80 million for reasons that are more than “he was really good last fall”. Anibal has the underlying skills to be a top-flight starting pitcher (even if not Cy Young caliber), and he’s apparently setting out to prove he’s not at all overpaid.

April 26, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez (19) pitches during the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Comerica Park. Detroit won 10-0. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn’t a perfect game, a no-hitter, or even a complete game shutout, but Anibal Sanchez turned in what may very well prove to be the Detroit Tigers’ best pitching performance of the season on Friday night in the team’s 10-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.

Sanchez allowed five hits and one walk in his eight scoreless inning, but the real story was his strikeout total. Specifially the fact that there were 17 of them — the most in the major leagues so far this year, and the most from a Detroit Tigers pitcher ever.

Sanchez had the Atlanta Braves hitters off-balance all game, and many of the swing-and-misses were as ugly as you’ll ever see. He struck out every Atlanta starter at least once, and sent Dan Uggla down on strikes in each of the four times he came to the plate. In fact, the combination of Uggla, Freddie Freeman, and Juan Francisco combined to go 0-10 with 10 strikeouts in this game (Freeman also struck out one more time in the ninth inning against Bruce Rondon).

Here’s an MLB.com video with both the Dan Dickerson and Mario Impemba calls of Sanchez’s final three strikeouts.

Anibal signed a sizable five year, $80 million deal this offseason, and he’s held up his part of the deal in the (very) early going of the year. Through five starts, Sanchez has a 1.34 ERA in 33.2 total innings. He has (what would be) a career high 10.96 K/9 strikeout rate, his walk rate is below his career line, and he’s yet to allow a home run.

It’s way early, but Sanchez has been really, really good.

The top of the lineup continued to mash the ball and set the table for the rest of the red-hot Detroit Tigers’ offense on Sunday as they took the rubber match of the three-game weekend series from the Oakland Athletics in a rout, 10 to 1.

Apr 14, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athleticsd catcher Derek Norris (36) watches Detroit Tigers outfielder Austin Jackson (14) celebrate with team mates after scoring the 4th Detroit run of of the game during the third inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Prior to first pitch, the team was concerned with the lack of depth in the battered bullpen, but a few hours later, with a huge lead and great effort from Anibal Sanchez, the point was moot. The hurler would go on to pick up his second victory of the season.

Oakland starter Jarrod Parker came into the ballgame with an 0-1 record and bloated ERA of 6.48. His troubles continued as soon as Austin Jackson stepped to the plate. Jackson got the offense started, just as he has much of this season, by notching a base hit and scoring on a long double off the bat of Torii Hunter. Two batters later, Victor Martinez singled home Hunter, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

Detroit continued its torrid hitting in the second as Alex Avila singled, and Jackson hit a line drive that just tucked past the left center field wall for his first home run of the season, making it 4-0. The Tigers added four runs in the fourth with the help of a Miguel Cabrera RBI single, Prince Fielder double, and Andy Dirks base hit. The offensive juggernaut scored single runs in the seventh and eighth to round out the scoring.

Jackson and Hunter each had huge games again, with Jackson going 4-for-6 with three RBI’s and three runs scored (and just missing out on his second homer of the game in his last at-bat) and Hunter going 3-for-5 with three extra base hits, an RBI and two runs scored.

On the pitching side, Sanchez gave the Tigers exactly what they needed–a deep outing from a starter. He was effective in seven innings, throwing 113 pitches, allowing just three hits and one run. At times Anibal appeared to struggle with his control (issuing four walks), particularly in the third and fourth innings.

In the third inning, the Athletics got two batters on base and Sanchez went 3-1 on Seth Smith before coming back to strike him out, recording one of his eight strikeouts on the afternoon. The next inning he loaded the bases but escaped with just one run scoring and would cruise the rest of the way.

Anibal Sanchez pitched his third outstanding game of the season and improved to 2-0. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The big bullpen question marks came from the fact that three pitchers would not be available on the day. Octavio Dotel was nursing an injury, and Joaquin Benoit and Drew Smyly needed rest. Twitter was flooded with concern that no lead was safe with the Tigers’ bullpen, especially with the short staff. Another option presented was to use Rick Porcello out of the bullpen as the team planned to skip his start due to a couple of upcoming off-days.

Porcello did indeed come in for the final two innings (proving that the best way to combat the Tigers’ bullpen woes is to throw a starter out there in late innings) and pitched flawlessly, retiring all six batters he faced. It marked the first time that Porcello has ever pitched out of the bullpen in a regular season game.

The Tigers have to feel happy with what was accomplished in Oakland. They took the series from a team that came in on Friday winners of eight straight games. The A’s added to that streak with a gut-wrenching Friday night walk-off win, but the Tigers were able to respond with two very nice ballgames against a very good team.

Detroit is now tied with Kansas City for the lead in the American League Central with a 7-5 record. They will take a day off and head to Seattle to open a three-game series against the Mariners on Tuesday.

Bullets

• The Tigers used their everyday lineup for the first time in the series on Sunday.
• Several lengthy hit streaks were extended, including Jackson (six), and Hunter (nine). Omar Infante saw his nine-game streak come to an end.
• Jackson has reached base in every game this season
• Jackson and Hunter are tops in the league in hits, Fielder is fourth.
• The Tigers scored first for the 10th time in 12 games this season, and scored in the first inning for the eighth time.
• Detroit has won each of the last three series of the season after dropping the opening series to Minnesota.