| Detroit Tigers sweep their way to 1st place |
| By Jason Behr July 22, 2012 The Detroit Tigers entered this weekend show down series against the Chicago White Sox with only one way to come out of it in 1st place. That was to sweep all 3 games and claim a 1 ½ game lead over the visiting White Sox at Comerica Park. This seemed like a tall order considering 2 out of the 3 scheduled pitchers for the Tigers, had both come off very rocky performances in their last start in Rick Porcello and Jacob Turner. The White Sox were also countering with an impressive one two punch of Jake Peavy and current all star Chris Sale. The first game featured a marquee pitching match up in Justin Verlander and Jake Peavy squaring off. With both pitchers in the top 10 for earned run average (E.R.A.) and W.H.I.P. (walks plus hits divided by innings pitch), runs were going to be at a premium. Jake Peavy started the game off by striking out 5 straight Tigers until Brennan Boesch hit a double in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Both pitchers were cruising along until the 3rd inning when Justin Verlander gave up two runs on a homer run Alejendro De Aza in the top of the 3rd inning. The Tigers then came up in the bottom of the inning and scored 3 runs on consecutive 2 out base hits by Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Delmon Young. This ended up being all the run support Verlander would need to wrap up his 11th victory of the season. He allowed only one hit over the next 5 innings, including sawing off the bat of Gordon Beckham with a 100 m.p.h. fast ball in the eighth. Jake Peavy gave up one more run in the 7th for a final score of 4-2 that pulled the Tigers to within a half game of the White Sox. The Saturday afternoon game saw Rick Porcello for the Detroit Tigers and All Star pitcher Chris Sale for the Chicago White Sox, with 1st place on the line. It didn’t take long to see that this was a very different Rick Porcello compared to his last start, as he retired the first twelve White Sox batters to start the game. Chris Sale was his equal though giving up just a lone hit and one walk in those same 4 innings. Much like the first game the White Sox scored first in the 5th inning to take a 1-0 lead, but saw it slip away quickly in the bottom of the inning. With 2 outs in the 5th inning the Tigers 8th and 9th hitters, Gerald Laird and Danny Worth respectively, hit back to back singles to set up Austin Jackson’s big 2 out 2 R.B.I. (runs batted in) double. This gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 2- 1 with Porcello going strong. The Tigers broke the game wide open in the 6th, when Brennan Boesch hit a 3 run homer off Chris Sale scoring Jhonny Peralta and Miguel Cabrera for a 5-1 lead. Austin Jackson also added to his R.B.I. total, driving in 2 more runs with a base hit for a 4 R.B.I. day in the 8th to make the final score 7-1 for the Tigers. Porcello did the rest as he pitched into the 9th inning for the 1st time in his career, but fell short of his 1st complete game, and Joaquin Benoit came in for the save. This put the Tigers in 1st place for the first time since May 1st by a half a game. The final game saw Detroit go with their much heralded but struggling rookie pitcher Jacob Turner seeking his first major league win, while Chicago countered with 4-4 Phil Humber. The scoring got off to a fast start with Chicago take a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning but once again owatched Detroit take the lead right back in the bottom half of the inning. This time it was Quentin Berry who hit just his 2nd home run of the season scoring Austin Jackson to take the lead right back at 2-1. It was then Miguel Cabrera that went back to back with Berry for his 299th home run of his career to make it 3-1 Tigers. The Tiger’s offense gave Turner plenty of cushion tacking on 3 more in the 3rd inning on two home runs by Miguel Cabrera and Brennan Boesch. For Boesch it was his second straight game with a homer following up his 3 run homer on Saturday with a 2 run homer on Sunday. However, the spot light definitely went to Cabrera’s monster solo shot, that hit the Ivy Wall in dead center field and traveled an estimated 457 feet. This was Cabrera’s 300th home run of his career and become only the second Venezuelan to do so behind Andres Galarraga. This gave Turner all the run support he would need for his first major league win, as he went 5.1 innings giving up only a 2 run homer to Alex Rios. The Tigers well rested bullpen then came in and did the rest giving up just 2 more runs the rest of the way for a 6-4 series sweeping Victory. |
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