Jeremy Guthrie Quiets Tigers’ Bats, O’s Take Another Game

Baltimore 5, Detroit 3 (box)

Baltimore? Really?

Just when I thought the Tigers were on the up and up, when I thought they were about to finish strong and end up a few games above .500 (where we really thought they would end up all along), they go and drop the first two games with the Orioles.

Sure they’ve been hot since they put Schowalter at the helm, but they’re still a bad team. This was a series thyat the Tigers should have won .

Max Scherzer‘s primary numbers weren’t as sharp as we’ve gotten used to seeing, but his secondary numbers were still strong. He struck out five in six innings, and only walked one, but Baltimore managed twelve hits and four runs against him. He has been so strong lately, but a game like this is bound to happen sooner or later.

I’ll give Jeremy Guthrie credit for what he did to the Tigers’ lineup on Saturday night. He scattered five hits through seven innings scoreless innings, while striking out four and walking one. As long as you keep the ball in the yard, you’ll win starts like that more often than not.

Matt Albers came in from the bullpen for the Orioles in the eighth, with a four run lead, but the Tigers got to him. Singles by Austin Jackson, Miguel Cabrera, and Don Kelly, and a double from Jhonny Peralta plated three runs for the Tigers to pull withing one run. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t get any closer.

Baltimore would add a run off of Brad Thomas (why?) in the ninth, and the Tigers would fall one-two-three to end the game.

I’m pretty disappointed that they couldn’t win this series, but I still am optimistic about how they’ll end the season. I still encourage fans not to judge the season by the ‘games back’ column. They still have a shot to get to 84 wins, which was a pretty reasonable estimation back in spring training. If they get there, I’ll be more than happy.