Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day Lineup Sizzles Against Nats

Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Detroit Tigers’ manager, Brad Ausmus debuted the Opening Day lineup(minus the still sidelined Jose Iglesias) this afternoon in a 12-6 win against the Washington Nationals. Rick Porcello started for the Bengals and had a troubled outing. He pitched four innings(and also saw two batters in the fifth, neither of which he recorded an out on), gave up seven hits and five earned runs(one on a home run), while striking out three and giving up no bases for free. One area of note on Porcello’s start regarding his trouble locating his pitches, his ground out-fly out ratio was 2-6. When this kind of stat pops up with Porcello, those tend to be the games where he gets blown-out. His ability to regroup and turn out a not-so-bad performance could be indicative of his growth this offseason. It also could have been Ausmus’ reluctance to let Porcello get bogged down any further.

Porcello’s so-so start was made a non-issue by the Tigers’ offense, with Ian Kinsler, Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Nick Castellanos and Rajai Davis all putting up multiple hits. Every starter recorded at least one hit with the squad combining for 22 total. Castellanos continued his Grapefruit League hot streak with three hits, including a two RBI double.

Other Notable Performances:

• While Davis had a good day at the plate, he was caught stealing and had a mediocre-to-bad day defensively.
• Phil Coke pitched today, showing an uptick in his arm speed, hitting 91mph. He gave up no hits and allowed no earned runs, although a baserunner he inherited from Porcello did cross home on his watch.
• Al Alburquerque was hit and miss in his inning, striking out two, but also giving up three hits, one of which was a home run.
• Bruce Rondon and Kyle Lobstein combined to shut the Nationals down in the eighth and ninth innings, neither allowing a baserunner and Rondon recording a strikeout.

The Tigers take on the Astros tomorrow at 1:05pm at Joker Marchant Stadium.