After two days, the bats reawakened -- and in what a big way. Two home runs by Ryan Raburn, a two-run double (again!) by Casper Wells, two hits by Miguel Cabrera, and a whole lot more.
So the Tigers split on the road. Half the games were excruciating, half the games were exhilarating. Given their history of road struggles this season we'll have to take it. Of course it's not the weekend in Canada the team really needed, as Detroit finds itself further out of first place today than it was Thursday afternoon.
Rick Porcello put together a second consecutive strong start, going seven innings and allowing just one run. His first hit came just hits into the fourth, and he allowed just three for the afternoon. He struck out four and walked just one.
So if you look at just the regular starters, the Tigers have a ninth quality start. (Unfortunately spot-starter Alfredo Figaro messed the streak up and added a lot of verbiage to this paragraph in doing so.)
The only real bad thing on the day was the performance of closer Jose Valverde, who needed to get some work in after last taking the mound Wednesday. He threw 26 pitches and allowed a three-run home run.
The Tigers pretty much need a sweep in the Twin Cities if they really want to consider themselves in the division hunt. They'll get that chance Tuesday after an off-day Monday.