Sure, we all know that the stats don't count. It's spring training after all. Pitchers working on things, batters working on things, managers working on things. All that stuff. But it's hard not to get a little excited with baseball starting back up and the Tigers winning their first two games against major league competition without allowing a run to score. Seven pitchers combined for a 1-0 shutout of the Blue Jays Sunday afternoon at Joker Marchant Stadiium. Fun. Empty fun, but fun.
Brad Penny made his debut in a Tigers uniform -- unexpectedly getting the start rather than Max Scherzer, who entered in the third inning. Penny had four groundball outs, one strikeout, and allowed one hit. Scherzer had two hitless innings but allowed a walk. Joquin Benoit also made his first relief appearance of spring, allowing just one hit in an inning.
An interesting figure to watch is Fu-Te Ni, the left-handed reliever who pitched for the Tigers in portions of 2009 and 2010 before being removed from the 40-man roster. It's easy to discount him due to that fact, but with none of the left-handed relievers bringing a lot of experience there may yet be a spot for Ni on this team with a little roster toying.
Not much happened at the plate for Detroit. The Tigers had just four hits. An-error helped lead to the team's only run, which came on a sac fly by Victor Martinez.
Detroit will host the Yankees on Monday.