Tigers 4
Orioles 1
WP: Ledezma (1-0)
LP: Birkins (0-1)
S: Jones (5)
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It's tough to look back on tonight's game and decide whether this was a case of a ton of good pitching from the two staffs, or simply a case of putrid performances from the plate. The Tigers and O's combined for 25 strikeouts tonight -- decide whether this extremely high number of K's is on the shoulders of the hitters, or whether the starters and the pens were both really, really on their games this evening.
Recent struggles at the plate by this Tigers team would indicate that tonight's performance was simply more of the same out of this club; Adam Loewen looks to be one heck of a pitcher, though, and I'd like to think our guys just ran into a locked-in young man who has a bright future ahead of him. He was wild at times (walking four in five innings), but never let the Tigers' lineup get into rythm. And then came Baez, Ray and Walker -- all pretty good relievers.
Again, it's time to be positive. There were some negative things going on at Camden Yards this evening: Inge continuing to struggle (he got a hit, at least), Sheffield looking downright awful and Granderson and Polanco combining to go 0-11. But hey, Verlander pitched seven scoreless innings, followed up by Rodney and Ledezma keeping the O's off the board. Yet again we saw the Tigers pitching staff win this game as the Tigers bats showed no consistency throughout the night.
Thank goodness for Craig's timely grand-slam. Thank goodness for a great pitching performance. Thank goodness for another Tigers' series win on the road. As much as we've complained about the Tigers hitting thus far, we can't complain about a 5-3 record, all things considered.