Last week, Armando Galarraga not so subtlety hinted he'd like more run support, because he believed he has pitched better than his four wins would indicate. Tonight, he got it...and got hit, hard. The Tigers tried to make a game of it in the later innings, but it was too little, too late, in an 11-7 loss to the Rangers.
The Tigers did score seven runs, but Galarraga gave up eight, seven earned, serving up two (which were last seen entering low earth orbit) of the Rangers' three home runs on the night. In what was his shortest stint of the season, Galarraga found himself knocked out of the box after 3.2 innings.
The moral of the story? Sometimes you're better off not saying anything at all. It is a team game, right?
It's not as if Galarraga was the only guilty party in the loss. This was one of the worst played games of the season, as the defense was sorely lacking from both sides. Save for the consistently awesome Austin Jackson, who made another marvelous catch in deep left center, taking a sure extra base hit away from Mitch Moreland, the game was played by 17 players with stone hands who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.
Galarraga and Alex Avila each threw balls into right field trying to get the out at 1st, and Rangers' starter Colby Lewis fired a sure 2-4-3 double play to...let's just the closest Ranger to the throw was the center fielder.
Yes, it was that ugly.
Also ugly was Jim Leyland's explosion at the umpires at the end of the 4th. After being hosed by blatantly bad calls Tuesday night, a call in favor of the Rangers' Michael Young sent Leyland over the edge. Young tried to check his swing with two strikes, and replays showed he went around. But the umps didn't see it that way.
With renewed life, Young hit a bases loaded sac fly, the start of a four run rally. At the end of the inning, Leyland got in some choice words at home plate umpire Jerry Layne from the dugout. He then came out and said the magic words, getting himself ejected.
Leyland, still full of righteous indignation after the game, refused to speak to the media.
Offensively, it was all Ryan Raburn, with plenty of Miguel Cabrera. Raburn, who has been white hot for the past six weeks, was pretty much all the Tigers' offense tonight, with three hits (a pair of doubles and a home run) and four RBI. Looking at him swing the bat with such authority now, it's hard to believe Raburn was barely over the Mendoza line six weeks ago. He's now hitting .273, and still rising.
Cabrera's run at the AL MVP remained on track. He doubled, walked, and hit a pair of sac flies, which added two more RBI to his MLB leading total. Cabrera has 118 RBI on the season.
The Tigers are off tomorrow, then take on the White Sox in Chicago for a three game weekend series. A series the White Sox must win (more like sweep) to keep their division hopes on life support. I'd be more than happy to see the Tigers act as spoilers, much as they did when taking three out of four from the Sox last week.