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For more on the Tigers check out Bless You Boys
(Sports Network) – The Detroit Tigers will put the finishing touches on a seven-game road trip today against the Seattle Mariners from Safeco Field.
The Tigers are 3-3 so far on the road swing and look to rebound from Tuesday’s 13-3 drubbing in the second test of a three-game series in the Pacific Northwest. Tigers starter Phil Coke fell to 1-3 on the season and surrendered six runs — two earned — on six hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings of work. Brad Thomas did no better in relief, allowing five runs and seven hits in only two innings.
“I think this is one that you just turn the page on. It just wasn’t our day,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.
Brennan Boesch had a team-best three hits and Miguel Cabrera finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored for Detroit, which is 5-7 away from the Motor City this season and placed catcher Victor Martinez on the disabled list before the game. Martinez, who was hitting .250 with two homers and nine RBI in 16 games, has been bothered by a strained right groin.
Detroit will begin a six-game homestand Friday versus the White Sox and Mariners at Comerica Park. It will hand the ball to Rick Porcello Wednesday and he’s still searching for his first win of the season. Porcello is 0-2 with a 6.19 earned run average in three starts and did not record a decision the last time out in an 8-4 win at Oakland last Friday.
Porcello pitched well and limited the A’s to one run and seven hits with four strikeouts in six innings. The hard-throwing righty still has an undefeated record against Seattle, going 2-0 with a 3.57 ERA in three career starts.
Seattle has won two of three games and will continue a seven-game homestand Wednesday afternoon. In last night’s pounding of the Tigers, Ichiro Suzuki led a 15-hit attack with a 4-for-5 performance at the plate, three runs scored and two RBI. Chone Figgins had three hits, three RBI and three runs scored for the Mariners, who got three hits from Michael Saunders.
“Those two guys up top, they’re the ones that need to get it going, and that’s what you saw today,” Mariners manager Eric Wedge said of Suzuki and Figgins. “You’ve seen both of them start to move in the right direction, and I think today was the culmination of that.”
Chris Gomez and Milton Bradley both drove in a pair of runs in the win. In other team news, the Mariners placed first baseman Justin Smoak on the bereavement list after the death of his father. He is batting .291 with two homers and seven RBI.
The Mariners, who will also host Oakland for four games, will send winless starter Erik Bedard to the hill today and he’s 0-3 with an 8.56 earned run average this season. Bedard hasn’t lasted more than five innings in each of his three starts and previously pitched in Friday’s 6-5 loss in Kansas City.
Bedard gave up five runs — four earned — and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six batters for a second start in a row. The left-hander will make his fifth career start against Detroit and is 1-2 with a 4.98 ERA through the first four meetings.
Seattle took five of its eight meetings with the Tigers last season, including wins in four of the five matchups in the Emerald City.
A night after the Detroit Tigers put a pretty good beating on the Seattle Mariners, the Mariners returned the favor by pounding Detroit 13-3 in the second game of a three-game set at Safeco Field.
Ichiro Suzuki went 4-for-5 at the plate and drove in a pair of runs, while Chone Figgins went 3-for-4 and drove in three for the Mariners. Doug Fister (1-3) picked up his first win of the year, scattering five hits and two runs over 6 1/3 innings.
Phil Coke only lasted 3 2/3 innings for Detroit, giving up six runs—only two earned—and failed to strike out a batter. Coke (1-3) needed 89 pitches to get to that point before he was pulled in favor of Enrique Gonzalez, who managed to walk four batters in 1 2/3 innings.
The Mariners put up four runs in the first inning and had built a 6-1 lead going into the top of the seventh, but the Tigers had a chance to get back in the game. Detroit loaded the bases without nobody out and got Fister to walk home Miguel Cabrera for a run, but Brandon Inge grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Seattle quickly put an end to any comeback, adding five more runs in the bottom half of the seventh.
Seattle, WA (Sports Network) – Jhonny Peralta’s three-run triple capped Detroit’s six-run seventh inning, as the Tigers earned an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a three-game series.
Brennan Boesch went 2-for-3 with two walks, a run scored and a RBI, while Miguel Cabrera had two hits, three runs scored and also drove one in for the Tigers, who snapped a brief two-game skid.
Max Scherzer (3-0) was credited with the win after yielding six hits, four walks and two runs while fanning seven over six frames.
Milton Bradley and Justin Smoak each homered for Seattle, which has dropped five of its last six overall.
Jason Vargas gave up two runs on six hits and a pair of free passes in his six-inning start, but took a no-decision after Josh Lueke (1-1) retired just one of the five hitters he faced in the seventh.
Brandon Inge started the game-changing inning with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Cabrera added a run-scoring single, and Chris Ray’s wild pitch with the bases loaded made it 5-2.
The bags were full again before Peralta emptied them with a fly ball over Ryan Langerhans’ head in center.
Smoak homered off Daniel Schlereth in the eighth to cap the scoring.
Three straight singles to start the top of the second — the last from Boesch — gave Detroit a 1-0 lead.
Bradley put the Mariners ahead with his two-run shot to center in the third, but Boesch doubled in Cabrera in the sixth to tie it.
Tigers catcher Victor Martinez left the game due to an injured groin…Seattle stranded 11 runners…Bradley’s home run ended a streak of 10 straight games the Tigers had not allowed a long ball, their longest streak since 1947.
Ryan Raburn made a little bit of bizarre history tonight -- he became the first player in Safeco Field's 12 year history to hit a ball off of the retractable roof.
In the first inning, Raburn popped a Jason Vargas pitch high into foul territory along the third base side. Mariners C Miguel Olivo and 3B Chone Figgins went after it, and it looked like they might have a play on it, but the ball took a different route as it fell to the ground in between them.
At first, I thought the (nonexistent?) wind might have been playing tricks on the ball, but almost immediately after it hit the turf, Tigers play-by-play man Mario Impemba announced he was just informed it was the first ball to ever hit the roof at Safeco Field.
According to Steve Kornacki, the ball traveled about 175 feet above the field and hit one of the trusses that support the umbrella. Raburn then hit the ball exactly zero feet, as he struck out to finish his at bat.
Other Safeco Field Firsts:
The Detroit Tigers took an early 1-0 lead over the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a three-game series. But the Tigers’ lineup will be missing a key bat for the rest of the ballgame.
Victor Martinez left the game after aggravating a strained groin muscle in the second inning of Monday’s series opener with the Seattle Mariners. The Tigers’ DH was clearly fighting the injury when jogging to first base following a single to right field. Martinez labored to second base after a Brennan Boesch single, and the Tigers decided to pull him from the game.
Casper Wells came in as a pinch-runner and will replace Martinez as the designated hitter.
Victor Martinez strained a groin muscle in his last at-bat during Saturday’s game against the Oakland Athletics, and sat out on Sunday to get some rest. Manager Jim Leyland apparently intended to keep Martinez out for Monday’s game, as well, but Martinez said he could go after getting through batting practice.
SB Nation Detroit will have further updates on Martinez as they become available. Also check out Bless You Boys for more on Martinez’s injury status and the Tigers’ performance against the Mariners.
(Hat tip to Brian Packey for his help in writing this post.)
UPDATE: MLive.com's Steve Kornacki reports the Tigers are calling Martinez's injury a right groin strain and he'll be re-evaluated on Tuesday.
Seattle snapped a seven-game road slide on Sunday, as Brendan Ryan's two-run single in the seventh inning proved to be the difference in the Mariners' 3-2 victory over Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium.
Brandon League came on to protect a two-run lead in the ninth, and gave up a one-out single to Kila Ka'aihue, who advanced to second base on a groundout. Wilson Betemit then lined a single to center field to trim theRoyals' deficit to one. Pinch-runner Mike Aviles stole second, but League retired Brayan Pena on a ground ball to notch his third save of the season.
Justin Smoak had two hits and Milton Bradley knocked in the other run for Seattle, which won for the first time in five tries overall and for only the third time in its last 14 games.
"It's not fun coming in and, not hanging our heads, but not having anything to be proud of," Ryan said of the team's struggles.
Michael Pineda (2-1) surrendered one run on three hits and walked four in six innings to get the win. The rookie right-hander finished with five strikeouts and became just the second pitcher in club history to record a quality start in each of his first three career outings -- joining Bob Stoddard in 1981.
"I can't say enough about this guy," Ryan said of Pineda. "I've said from the end of Spring Training this guy has a legitimate shot to be Rookie of the Year. When you make guys look the way they do with all three pitches. ... he's outstanding and he's only going to get better."
Getting the call for the Mariners tonight will be left-hander Jason Vargas, who is 0-1 with a 4.86 ERA. Vargas did not get a decision on Wednesday against Toronto, despite allowing just a run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Vargas is 0-1 in two starts versus the Tigers with a 7.71 ERA.
Detroit, meanwhile, will counter with right-hander Max Scherzer, who is 2-0 with a 4.76 ERA. Scherzer, though, did not factor in the decision of his last start against Texas, but pitched well, surrendering two runs and seven hits in six innings.
Scherzer has won both of his starts against the Mariners, pitching to a 1.93 ERA in the process.
The Tigers enter tonight's opener after dropping the final two games of their four-game set with the Oakland Athletics, losing Sunday's finale 5-1. Casper Wells accounted for the only offense with a homer for the Tigers, who had won four straight before losing the final two of that set.
Brad Penny (0-2) suffered the loss after yielding five runs on four hits, with four walks in five-plus innings of work. The veteran right-hander struck out five.
Seattle took five of its eight meetings with the Tigers last season, including wins in four of the five matchups in the Emerald City.
Rick Porcello Picks Up First Win As Tigers Take Series From Mariners
Seattle, WA (Sports Network) – Rick Porcello pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and the Detroit Tigers held on for a 3-2 victory over Seattle in the rubber match of a three-game series.
The Tigers rebounded from a 13-3 loss on Tuesday to win two of three against the Mariners.
Porcello (1-2) moved to 3-0 lifetime against Seattle, allowing just one run on four hits and a walk while striking out six. Ryan Perry and Joaquin Benoit combined to pitch 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Jose Valverde earned his fourth save despite surrendering a solo homer to Adam Kennedy in the ninth.
Ryan Raburn had a solo homer for Detroit in the first inning and scored the eventual game-winning run on Brennan Boesch’s single in the fifth.
Erik Bedard (0-4) continued to struggle for the Mariners, taking the loss after giving up three runs in five innings. He surrendered five hits and five walks, striking out two.
Apr 20 6:39p by Ryan Weiss