Tigers pitching strike out 15 in 6-4 victory

Justin Verlander didn't have no-hit stuff Saturday, unlike his domination of the Angels last week. But he had plenty good enough stuff in a cold and blustery day in Cleveland, striking out 9 Indians while getting his 3rd win of the season as the Tigers beat the Tribe 6-4.

2 starts ago, Jim Leyland stated he was going to watch Verlander's pitch counts. I say watch, as that's all the Tigers manager has done. Leyland sure hasn't limited the pitches thrown by his ace. As usual, Verlander wasn't super efficient this afternoon, throwing 119 pitches in 6 innings. Since Leyland's statement, Verlander has tossed 239 pitches in 14.1 innings....both Tigers victories.

On the day, Tigers pitching overpowered the Indians' lineup to the tune of 15 SOs. In addition to Verlander's 9, Joel Zumaya struck out 5 in his 2 innings and Jose Valverde contributed 1 SO in a 1-2-3 9th for his 8th save of the young season.

With the stats from yesterday's postponed game wiped from the books, Miguel Cabrera and Scott Sizemore lost big games at the plate to Mother Nature. They made up the lost stats today. Sizemore started the Tigers scoring with a bases loaded 3 run double off of Indians starter Justin Masterson in the 4th. Cabrera continued to be a one man wrecking crew, going 2-3 with a game breaking 2 run single off of Kerry Wood (the Indians closer was slumming as a setup man, taking the loss in the process) in the 7th.

During the post game, Leyland took time to praise the big hits from Sizemore and Cabrera.

"Sizemore got the big hit, obviously, and Cabrera got a big one," Leyland said. "But two outs and bases loaded, when they could get out of it, he puts one in the gap. That's tough. Sizemore was the huge at-bat of the game, I thought."

Coming off of an awful series against the Twins, it was good to see Sizemore bounce back against the Indians. As for Cabrera...words fail me as to how dominant he's been at the plate this season. At the rate he's punishing pitchers, Cabrera is going to be on the short list of candidates for American League MVP.

Bullets!

• Cabrera is leading the Tigers (and the American League, for that matter) in hitting, raking at .371 clip. Austin Jackson is right on his heels at .370.
• Having another solid day at the plate is the surprising Brennan Boesch, with another 2 hit game. Tigers rookies continue to play far above expectations.
• A shout out goes to Johnny Damon. Despite going hitless, he still drew 3 bases on balls. The Tigers took 8 walks in total. It's been a pleasure to watch a much more patient Tigers team at the plate this season. 
• The winds off of Lake Erie gusted up to 46 MPH during the game. Amazingly, it didn't affect the Tigers often stone-handed outfielders.

Comment of the Night:

redwingxviii put himself together a nice little list late in the game

Wish List

from most likely to least likely

1) win lottery
2) world peace
3) tigers lead league in sac flies

I agree with the commentariat, there's always a possibility for the first 2 to occur. But #3? Never going to happen!