Rapid Reactions: Tigers Make it Nine Straight Over Twins

Tigers 4, Twins 2 (box)

• It was a good (not great) start by Rick Porcello. He threw 60% of his pitches for strikes, which isn’t the worst ratio ever, but he seemed to pitch into too many hitters counts. He walked three hitters, again not the worst ever, but Rick can’t make a living with a walk rate that high. Still, the end result was positive, so I’m happy.
• I love watching Miguel Cabrera hit. There are times when you can see him lock in (or at least pretend like you could after he bombs the next pitch into the grandstands). He struck out on a slider in the dirt in his first plate appearance, and after chasing the same pitch in his next at bat, he took a step out of the batter’s box. You could see the wheels in his head turning like he had finally figured out how to differentiate Scott Baker‘s slider from his fastball. Baker threw a fastball over the inner-third of the plate on the next pitch, and Cabby took him deep. Tremendous hitter.

• The Tigers’ first run was scored with singles by Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta, and Alex Avila. The three Tigers that deserve more All-Star recognition than they’re currently getting. Sadly, two (or even all three) will probably get left off the squad even if they continue their hot hitting. Cue Rodney Dangerfield.
• Joaquin Benoit seems to be back in the groove. His ERA in his last 10 apperances (10 innings) is 2.70. He has 10 strikeouts and only 2 walks over this stretch (going back to May 9).
• Jose Valverde closed out his 14th save of the year. J.J. Putz and Joel Hanrahan are the only other closers who haven’t blown a save in at least 14 opportunites.
• The Twins were 0-6 with runners in scoring position, and they left 11 runners on base. Better them than us. (The Tigers were 2-5 with RISP).
• Jhonny Peralta stretched his hit streak to 10 games. He’s now hit safely in 21 of his last 23 games. He was hitting only .258 on May 3, but he’s now hitting .314. His OPS has risen by about .120 since then as well.

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