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Five times in their last 10 games, the Tigers scored three or fewer runs. That makes pitching a premium for a team that wants to win.
Fortunately for the Tigers, the pitching staff continued a recent trend of limiting opponents to three runs or fewer. With Rick Porcello starting and several relievers helping out of the bullpen, Detroit again held Chicago down. This time, Jose Valverde managed to survive a ninth inning scare, lifting his team to a 3-1 victory and helping it win two out of three against the White Sox.
Detroit went 3-2 on the home stand, but now has a lengthy road trip that begins Monday night in Seattle.
Porcello pitched into the seventh inning, allowing just one run. That made the fifth consecutive game a Tigers starter pitched a quality start, and the sixth out of seven games. Things are finally starting to get back on track, and hopefully will continue to do so with Doug Fister back in the rotation.
That leaves the problem of not scoring runs consistently. Even though Detroit scored just three runs -- all on solo home runs -- that the Tigers had 10 hits and drew four walks should be a good sign. Those hits are going to start to bunch up a bit better, and the runs are going to start to score. We've seen signs of Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila coming out of their woes. If Ryan Raburn and/or Brennan Boesch start to figure things out, too, the team might start to hit like it was expected to.
Then all the gnashing of teeth will just seem silly.
3 ROARS
Rick Porcello - Tigers starters are starting to get rolling
Andy Dirks - 2 hits, HR
Prince Fielder - 2 hits, HR
BONUS ROAR
Austin Jackson - 2 hits, HR
3 HISSES
Brennan Boesch - 0-for-4, .206 average
Ryan Raburn - 0-for-3, .154 average
Jose Valverde - Stop making it look so difficult, Jose.
GAME 26 POG
Max Scherzer kept the Tigers in the game, and was honored by the voters