Detroit Tigers: Drop the Rubber Match in Houston 5-4

The Detroit Tigers, coming off a game where they needed the long ball to uplift the team, would need  few home runs just to stay in today’s game.

Anibal Sanchez toed the rubber for the Tigers, making his third start of the young season. Battling the Astros’ Mike Fiers, Sanchez cruised along after a rough start to the game.

It looked like the wheels were going to fall off right from the start for Sanchez. The mighty Jose Altuve led off the game as he has all series, except this time he took a fastball that was left up by Sanchez and gave it a ride out to right field for a solo home run. It was the first of three runs plated by Altuve in this game as he would add a two-RBI single in the fourth inning. A two-time All-Star, Altuve already has four home runs on the campaign after hitting a career high 15 home runs last year despite his diminutive stature.

Already in the hole, Sanchez also surrendered a solo blast to Astros right fielder George Springer. Sanchez surrendered a career-high 24 home runs last season in what was an injury ridden year for the Tigers righty. Getting rid of the hip turn in his delivery will ideally pay off during the season allowing Sanchez to control his body and improve his command leading to a decline in the number of home runs given up.

The final of Sanchez’s five earned runs came courtesy of a wild pitch. Sanchez chucked two wild pitches in this start after only throwing one in his previous two starts and five last season. Some Tigers fans had concerns about Saltalamacchia’s ability to frame pitches, but this was the least of his concerns. The veteran catcher struggled to block a few erratic pitches that were off to his sides.

Salty may have been an issue behind the plate but he did help his starter out offensively once again. Breaking the seal in the fifth inning Salty put the Tigers on the board with a solo blast. Salty has been locked-in to start the season providing more than enough offense to compensate for the loss of James McCann.

Another Tigers player that has been hitting seemingly at will is Ian Kinsler who smashed a two-run homer that put the Tigers right back into the game. Kinsler is showing no signs of aging having already hit four home runs this season, a feat he did not accomplish last season until July 20.

Kinsler showed he is not just an intelligent hitter but also quite the intellect while playing defense. In the fifth inning, Astros rookie first baseman Tyler White popped a ball up towards the right side of the infield. With Colby Rasmus on first, the much more speedy runner, Kinsler pretended to field the ball only to let it fall to the ground. Kinsler picked the ball up and flipped it over to Jose Iglesias at second base for the force out. The umpires huddled up and overturned the original call of an infield fly rule. Because there was no runner on second base the rule does not apply. You can bet MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is in his office right now discussing this play, but for now it went down as the smartest play of the season for the Tigers.

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J.D. Martinez also added a solo shot, beating the shift in the best way possible, hitting it over the fence. After hitting the ball hard to all fields in the first few series pitches seemed to have the book on Martinez. After seeing a lot of off-speed pitches early in counts causing him to get out in front and take bad swings Martinez waited on a 1-2 fastball and drove it the other way for a home run. If you think the Tigers are hitting a lot of home runs you’re right; their 17 home runs are third in the American League this season.

Despite the three home runs, no free curly fries will be had by Tigers fans, since the team could not get the win in Houston. The Tigers dropped their first series of the season after getting shutout in the first game and stealing a win just a night ago.

The only other thing of note was Justin Upton‘s ejection. After he was called out on strikes for his league leading 18th strikeout of the season, Upton got in the face of the home plate umpire to discuss their “gentleman’s disagreement”. Though the pitch may have been high it was Upton’s second strikeout of the game after striking out with runners in scoring position earlier in the game. Upton was expected to strikeout at a high clip this season as he has done every year since entering the big leagues but his alarmingly slow start mixed with a disappointing spring may leave some Tigers fans weary.

Next: Jose Reyes a Tiger?

Moving on, the Tigers have a day off tomorrow giving them an opportunity to rest up and regroup. The travel day takes the team to Kansas City where they will begin a three-game set against the division rival Royals. Shane Greene will take the ball in the first game of the series looking to follow up on an impressive performance in his last start. Greene, like the other Tigers starters, will need to try and get off to a solid start and avoid settling in during the middle innings. Keeping the starters’ pitch counts low in the first few innings will be necessary in this series.

Read more about the Detroit Tigers at Motor City Bengals.