A couple of days ago, Tom Gage wondered on his blog when Brandon Inge would hit his first home run of the season.
Question answered.
A pair of home runs Monday -- the second one an insurance run in the ninth inning -- helped Detroit break even on the 4-game series in Texas and finish the 11-game road trip 5-6.
I'll take it. So will the team, I imagine, as it flies home and catches some rest before facing the first-place Twins tonight.
Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't get Miguel Cabrera's name nice and high in this story too. He broke open the 6-6 game in the ninth inning with a solo homer off Rangers closer Neftali Feliz. Thank goodness for that, because for a few innings we had to wonder whether Detroit would give away an early lead like it did Sunday.
It started off nice enough. The Tigers led 4-0 after the first inning. Jeremy Bonderman sent the first 11 Rangers to come to the plate back to the dugout unsuccessfully before giving up his first hit -- and run on a HR. But Detroit tacked on a couple more when Inge hit his first home run of the season to make it 6-1 in the fifth inning.
The Rangers continued to chip away with five unanswered runs, first scoring a few more on Bonderman, then a couple on Joel Zumaya when Phil Coke allowed two inherited runners to score. That's notable because Zumaya's nice round 0.00 ERA is now a bit off.
It's too bad it ended so badly for Bonderman after such a good start. His ERA actually went up to 6.97
Coke vultured the win. Jose Valverde got his sixth save.
I think we can give the Tigers a passing grade for the series. It started off shaky, but the Tigers nearly went .500 on the road and were in most games.
And finally, the team is back in the Eastern Time Zone. Best news of all, if you ask me.
Comment of the Night
frisbeepilot with the first ghost story for allikazoo's fort. She briefly left the game thread to rest her back and lay on the floor and the rally started... guess we know where she'll be camping out for future rallies.
And the call to the bullpen...
…was COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!
In other news:
- Stadium Journey dropped by Comerica Park and gave its review.
- Lynn Henning suspects the Tigers will be raiding Triple-A for pitching soon because the bullpen is tired out after the starting pitching has struggled so much.