Porcello Roughed Up in Tigers Loss to the Nationals

Thursday evening-in a rare night game-the Detroit Tigers lost to the Washington Nationals 5-2.

BOX

Notes after the jump….

ON THE BUMP:

Last night Rick Porcello was hit hard and often. Sadly, he never really found a groove and departed after only five innings of work. While Kid-Rick did manage to strikeout five, he allowed five runs, on eight hits and two walks. He went deep into counts far to many times, putting batters into favorable counts. Both of his home-runs that he gave up were hit pretty damn hard. After tonights poor performance, Porcello now sports a 4.43 ERA. While I’m not exactly waving a red flag just yet, I am starting to wonder exactly which Rick Porcello we will get this season.

Fans were also treated to an appearance by the Aussie duo of Brad Thomas and Chris Oxspring. Both pitched rather uneventful scoreless innings.

Joaquin Benoit continued to be his usual awesome self. He struck out the side and now has racked up fourteen in just nine innings. In that same span he has allowed just five base-runners. I hate to sound like a broken record but I am very impressed with Benoit.

Jose Valverde gave up one hit and pitched a scoreless inning. He also managed to stop by and give his usual high-five before he departed.

AT THE PLATE:

Brennan Boesch went 3-4, improving his average to .306. He is starting to get hot and looks to be a shoe-in for a spot on the roster.

Victor Martinez continues to swing a hot bat, he went 2-4. Hopefully, V-Mart brings this production with him next month because most of the bats are still hibernating.

Austin Jackson was 0-3, pulling off the hat-trick in the strikeout department.

Will Rhymes was just 1-4, but he had a couple solid defensive plays and recorded a stolen base.

Jhonny Peralta was 2-4 on the day. He made a couple bone-head plays defensively though. At times I begin to wonder how bad things will go this season for our “ground-ball” pitchers.

UP NEXT: -Hat-tip to Jason Beck

Friday night at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex, the Tigers take on the Braves at 6:05 p.m. Adam Wilk will make his second start of the spring, followed by Enrique Gonzalez, Brayan Villarreal, Daniel Schlereth and Ryan Perry. Recently appointed starter Brandon Beachy is scheduled to start for Atlanta. Meanwhile, Jose Valverde and Joaquin Benoit are scheduled to pitch in a Minor League game at Tigertown on Friday afternoon.

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