With the Yankees in Lakeland, the Tigers rolled out a pretty close approximation of their opening day lineup and remained undefeated in spring training with a 6-2 victory.
Justin Verlander was on the mound, and the lineup looked like this:
- Austin Jackson, CF
- Ryan Raburn, LF
- Magglio Ordonez, RF
- Miguel Cabrera, DH
- Victory Martinez, 1B
- Jhonny Peralta, SS
- Brandon Inge, 3B
- Scott Sizemore, 2B
- Alex Avila, C
Some possible variations by the time Detroit heads to The Big Apple on March 31? Cabrera and Martinez's positions in the field will obviously be swapped around. The race for second base could shift things around a bit too, as I would expect Will Rhymes to bat second if he wins the competition. If Carlos Guillen is healthy enough to start the year, he'd bat sixth the Tigers say. Still, this is a lineup you'll probably see again this season.
So how did it do in the two innings it saw Yankees starter CC Sabathia? Ordonez and Peralta both had hits -- Peralta's a double. Jackson and Sizemore both struck out. No runs were scored. OK, so it's still spring training, we obviously shouldn't read anything into it. Besides, Verlander gave up two hits and walked two against a Yankees lineup that didn't even include all the superstars.
Rick Porcello pitched two innings, and worked his way out of a tough situation when he loaded the bases with one out. Charles Furbush has the temporarily inglorious standing of being the first Tigers pitcher to allow runs this season in Grapefruit League competition, but we forgive him.
Detroit took the lead on a two-out single by Ryan Strieby in the seventh, and Cale Iorg homered in the eighth. Outfielder Andy Dirks had two hits.
Reliever Daniel Schlereth hurt his left hamstring covering first base on a play and had to be helped of the field. MLB.com's Jason Beck reports on Twitter that Schlereth said the injury is minor and he should be back pitching in about a week.
In other news, Cabrera will DH again Tuesday, Beck says. Cabrera went 0-for-2 with two groundouts against the Yankees.
This way way too many words written about a game that doesn't count, wasn't it?