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This game was full of things Tigers fans have become accustomed to seeing this season. The Angels scoring runs. Daniel Norris with shaky command. A near-silent offense.
Norris wasn’t the worst he’s been this season, but he couldn’t manage a win. He made it through six innings on 110 pitches, gave up four runs, but did manage to collect seven strike outs.
The Tigers bats started to heat up following the sixth inning Alex Avila home run, but a few TTBDNS situations slowed them down when it came time to catch up to the Angels. Alas, a ninth inning opportunity to tie the game — including a wild pitch, loaded bases, and a sudden rain — ended with an unfortunate third strike call on Avila that probably should have been a ball four walked in run. Heartbreaker.
ROARS
Alex Avila - Hit a 398’ home run to left field in the sixth inning, his ninth bomb of the season, further distancing himself from his 2016 total. He also led the eighth inning with a single. Avila has had an absolutely tremendous season so far and continues to look like the smartest acquisition the Tigers made this offseason.
Francisco Rodriguez - came in for the ninth in a two-run game and had a nice clean inning. Hurray!
This isn’t related to the Tigers, but if you missed this while watching the Tigers game, Cincinnati Reds super utility man Scooter Gennett had possibly the greatest game for any one player this year. So impressive it deserved a Roar.
With a 5-for-5, 4-homer, 10-RBI night, Scooter Gennett has a legit claim to putting up the single best offensive game in baseball history.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 7, 2017
HISSES
Alex Presley - the young outfielder was a bit of a hot mess in center field. He missed a long line drive in the fourth inning, then bobbled and dropped a single from Calhoun that ended up scoring a run.
The Comerica outfield walls, which led to near-miss home runs for both Ian Kinsler (well, sort of close) and Victor Martinez. Sure, let’s blame the walls.
STREAKS & INFO
After Sunday’s game against the White Sox, J.D. Martinez became the first player in Tigers’ history to hit 10 home runs within his first 22 games of the season. Only three other players this season have managed the feat: Eric Thames, Aaron Judge, and Ryan Zimmerman. Pretty good company.
The results should, perhaps, not be surprising. Going into tonight’s game the Tigers’ record against the Angels at Comerica was 31-38.
Also, this happened in Toledo.
GOODBYE!
— Toledo Mud Hens (@MudHens) June 7, 2017
Tyler Collins blasts a three-runner to deeeeep right field to cut the Indianapolis lead to 9-4 in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/043Uf4Oz7k