Re-Joyce! Tigers 5, Twins 4

Upon returning to American League play, the Detroit Tigers once again showed a knack for the comeback, something they were very good at against the Cardinals and Rockies.  Detroit hung in there against a starting pitcher they really didn't have an answer for, keeping it close until they could attack the soft underbelly of the Minnesota bullpen. 

Who Gets the Claw?

Tonight's Golden Tiger Claw goes to Matt Joyce.  Just another Mud Hen getting it done.  (Remember, Mud Hens give you wins.)  For the second game in a row, a Toledo guy smacked a triple that ended up being the biggest hit of the game, tying the score at 4-4.

Others might say Curtis Granderson should get the Tiger Claw, since he drove in the game-winning run and went 3-for-4 on the night.  I really wouldn't put up much of a fight on that, except to point out that if Joyce doesn't get on base (and knock in the tying run), Grandy doesn't have anyone to bring home. 

Yet another candidate could be Twins coach Scott Ullger, who took over after Ron Gardenhire was ejected.  The Tigers just couldn't get anything done against Glen Perkins, despite seven hits, and Ullger arguably let them off the hook when he took Perkins (who'd thrown 91 pitches by that point) out of the game in the seventh inning.  With Perkins out of the way, Detroit rallied for three runs against the Twins' bullpen.

Another Big Bat Goes Down?

Two days after their regular clean-up hitter pulled an oblique muscle and had to leave the game, the Tigers' replacement in the #4 spot, Miguel Cabrera, felt a pain that sent him to the clubhouse, too.  After stretching for a one-hop throw from Carlos Guillen, Cabrera came to the dugout limping and promptly left the dugout with trainer Kevin Rand (who's been getting far too much work lately).

The initial diagnosis was tightness in Cabrera's left hip flexor, and for now, he's listed as day-to-day.  We'll have to see how Cabrera feels when he gets up in the morning and/or gets to the Metrodome for tomorrow's game.

Initially, it looked as if Pudge Rodriguez might have hurt himself too, with pain behind his knee.  Pudge stayed in the game, however.

Roll Call

We had a big night in the GameThread, with a lot of anxious typing in those last couple of innings.  But we dealt with the angst together, and were rewarded with some sweet victory at the end.

Thanks to spotstarters (who predicted problems with Perkins), explosivo2k2, ThaWalrus9, wepri31 (who gave me tonight's headline), tplants, MackAveKurt, pfuhrmeister, Boney, MSU4LIF, ReichardZ, rook34, cannonad03, rock n rye, Juskimo, LosTigres, PBURGTIGER, ahtrap, densogirl, rossjohnson87, tbliggins, ashmark, bradm, and Gnick for toughing out another comeback effort.