The less said about this, the better. Tonight's game was a disaster for the Detroit Tigers from the start.
How would Jarrod Washburn fare after skipping his last start to rest his aching left knee? Well, he struck out David DeJesus to begin the game. And his highlight reel ended there.
Washburn could not find the strike zone, throwing most everything off the plate as he tried to pitch away from the Kansas City hitters. The first Royals run was scored on a pitch far outside Alex Avila's reach. (It was scored a passed ball, but Avila would've had to be Plastic Man to catch that one.)
And when Washburn did throw a strike, it was up in the zone and hit hard. The Royals scored three more runs when Alberto Callaspo crushed a fastball deep to left-center field.
Somehow, Washburn got two more outs to end the inning. But that was the end of his evening. He was clearly having problems with that knee, limping around the mound after he got one of those outs. And the location of most of his pitches showed he wasn't getting a good push off the rubber. With that, Jim Leyland apparently decided he'd seen enough.
Washburn wasn't the only one who pitched badly tonight, however. Casey Fien served up a three-run homer to David DeJesus, eventually giving up four runs in three innings. Jeremy Bonderman gave up a three-run shot of his own to Miguel Olivo.
Actually, the pitching star of the evening was Zach Miner, who pitched two scoreless innings taking over for Washburn.
The only other thing worth noting about this game is that Don Kelly came in for Miguel Cabrera at first base and Brent Dlugach took over at third for Brandon Inge in the sixth inning. At that point, Leyland basically told everyone this game was lost.
Remember that comeback, walk-off win over the Blue Jays on Monday night? That was awesome.
Whimper:
Magglio Ordonez celebrated triggering his $18 million contract for next season by going 0-for-3. But really, it's unfair to single him out. This game was lost before the Tigers even came to bat.
Comment of the Night:
Did anyone else suddenly get a Beach Boys song in their head?
maybe it’s just me.
by MackAveKurt