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Detroit Tigers: Last Week’s 5 Heroes and Zeroes

By Matt Pelc |
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Apr 19, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers left fielder Yoenis Cespedes (52) and center fielder Rajai Davis (20) celebrate after the game against the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park. Detroit won 9-1. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Tigers had another great week of baseball, going 4-2 in the week of April 13 through 19. Couple that with the 6-0 start, and the Tigers are off to a start that probably even the most ardent Detroit baseball backer did not foresee.

Monday night the Tigers continued their winning ways by taking out the New York Yankees, 2-1 to improve their record to 11-2, but for the purpose of this article we will look at the players and how they performed for the last week.

The title of this article is “heroes and zeroes” and it is hard to be negative with the type of start, but we will touch on one zero, though the heroes with positive performances greatly outweighed the players who struggled.

In fact it was tough to whittle it down to just a handful of top performers of the previous week.

Such players as Nick Castellanos (.421/.450/.526), Jose Iglesias (.350/.409/.500) and Miguel Cabrera (.318/.375/.455) didn’t make the cut. Miggy could probably make this list every week. There are also too many pitchers to mention (yes even from the bullpen) that could have also easily made the list.

So without further ado, let’s take a trip through the slideshow for Detroit Tigers heroes and zeroes.

Next: Anibal's struggles

Apr 18, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Chicago White Sox designated hitter Jose Abreu (79) runs the ball after he hits a grand slam home run off Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez (19) in the fourth inning at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

#5 Zero: Anibal Sanchez

Last season, Anibal Sanchez got out to a slow start, but rectified it after a couple starts and was lights out when he was healthy.  He allowed three runs in three of his first four starts but was perhaps the Tigers’ most consistent starter in 2014.

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Allowing nine runs on Saturday was easily the worst outing of Anibal’s career, but he now has nowhere to go but up. Jeff Jones will be working with him to pinpoint the issues he’s experiencing this season, notably the amount of home runs he has been allowing.

Through three games, he’s allowed five home runs after allowing four in 22 appearances (21 starts) last year. This was also a problem for Anibal during Spring Training.

I am confident Sanchez will get his mechanics in gear soon. It may not be by his next start in Thursday’s series finale with the New York Yankees, but he’ll get there.

Next: Rajai against the Machine

Apr 15, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Detroit Tigers left fielder Rajai Davis reacts as he crosses home plate after hitting a solo home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the sixth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

#4 Hero: Rajai Davis

Now that we got the one negative out of the way, let’s look at the positives. First up, Rajai Davis.

While Rajai did not put up the most eye-popping numbers last week (.286/.318/.476), he was extremely clutch (except for a base runner blunder or two).

Most of Davis’ damage came during the Pittsburgh series when he singled home Jose Iglesias from second base during the second game. That RBI made a 1-0 Tigers’ advantage move to a more comfortable 2-0 lead and became the margin of victory on April 14.

Less than 24 hours later, he accounted for the only Detroit offensive firework when he laced a line drive home run that just cleared the left field wall. The solo shot turned into the game winning RBI in the 1-0 victory that allowed Detroit to claim the series on April 15.

Davis went on to collect a hit in each game of the series with the Chicago White Sox and cruised to a five-game hitting streak to end the week.

Next: Cespedes for the rest of us

Apr 19, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers left fielder Yoenis Cespedes (52) runs the bases after hitting a grand slam home run in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

#3 Hero: Yoenis Cespedes

It’s early, but Yoenis Cespedes seems to be a player reborn in Detroit, something a lot of us expected with the influence of Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and other supportive outlets within the Tigers’ clubhouse.

Though Cespedes actually cooled off a bit after a torrid start through the first week, his game on Sunday clinched him a spot on this list.

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Cespedes came up with the bases loaded in the first inning with two out. The Tigers had seen their potent offense taper off in the second week so runs were important to come by. Facing a 3-2 count, Cespedes delivered an early knock-out blow. Through steady rain, never optimum batting conditions, he launched a ball deep into the left field seats at Comerica Park off Jose Quintana, earning the first Grand Slam of his career.

A couple of innings later he launched a two-run shot and the Tigers lead 7-0, six runs of which were accounted for by Cespedes’ bat.

The nature of a slugger, Cespedes will have his ups and downs, but early on it seems his ups will outweigh the downs.

Next: Grass is Always Greener

Apr 19, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Shane Greene (61) pitches in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

#2 Hero: Shane Greene

Everyone has a bad day. For Shane Greene apparently a bad day is allowing one run after 22 scoreless innings to start his career as a Detroit Tiger.

He won his third straight to begin the year, and some in the ballpark felt J.D. Martinez should have been charged with an error thus negating that one earned run surrendered this season. Nonetheless, Greene is sporting a 0.39 ERA.

We have not seen the bullpen in many high-pressure situations this season other than some save situations from Joakim Soria. A lot of that has been due to solid efforts from the starters, particularly Greene who has quite unexpectedly gone deep into games. He nearly had a complete game in the Pirates’ series, but when Jose Iglesias stretched a single to a double, he was removed for a pinch hitter.

Stepping in the large shadows of Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello has not caused any problems for Greene thus far. Perhaps he is cool under pressure from the experience of starting for the New York Yankees as a rookie in the top sports media market last year.

With the poise and success he is showing early on, and the fact he is under team control until 2021, Shane Greene could quickly become a fan favorite in Detroit.

Next: Mr. 1-2-3

Apr 15, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Joakim Soria pitches against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the ninth inning at PNC Park. The Tigers won 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

#1 Hero: Joakim Soria

How do you like those 1-2-3 innings in the ninth inning, Detroit Tigers’ fans? Here’s something you will not believe: 1-2-3 innings from closers is supposed to be the norm, not a sporadic occasion that we’ve seen here from Joe Nathan, Jose Valverde, Todd Jones, Fernando Rodney…etc, etc. etc.

We could really go back into the 1980’s to find a consistent, lock down closer. Yes, Valverde was 52 for 52 in 2011’s regular and postseason, but 1-2-3, stress-free innings were still rare for him.

Soria appeared in three games last week, pitching three perfect innings. He picked up two saves and a win when he held Chicago’s bats in check to allow the Tigers to walk-off in Friday’s ninth inning. He also picked up another save in 1-2-3 fashion to open this week in style on Monday night.

Here’s the crazy thing–next week at this time, Soria may not even be the closer anymore!

Whether you want him or not, Joe Nathan is getting close to coming back, and even after Soria’s success last week, manager Brad Ausmus said Nathan would “probably” be the closer when healthy. Of course that was two saves and win ago. It would be extremely tough to remove Soria from this role after his success.

That said, it could still happen, but let’s hope the team sees the light and keeps the #1 Tigers hero in the place he can best serve them.

Next: Winning solves everything, for now

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