The Detroit Tigers "officially" got their 2012 Spring Training underway on Saturday with a strong win over the Atlanta Braves. "Officially," is used in quotations because the Tigers played Florida Southern on Friday, a dominating 11-1 win for the exhibition game. So yes, the Tigers did have a preseason preseason game before taking on the Braves, but they probably didn't need it. They shutout the Braves 2-0.
More than that, they held the Braves to just one hit. Eight different pitchers held the Braves to one hit, when Jordan Parraz led off the eighth with a single off of Chris Bootcheck. Detroit took the lead at the start of the third, when Jerad Head hit a home run to lead-off. Austin Jackson would then go on to single, but Brennan Boesch hit into a double play, while Miguel Cabrera popped out to first to end the inning.
Their second run came when Audy Ciriaco singled to left field and Ryan Strieby singled to right. Argenis Diaz was called out, but the sacrifice was successful and Ciriaco scored to get the final score. Doug Fister started and picked up the win for Detroit, while Anthony Varvaro was handed the loss for Atlanta. They;ll take the Braves on again on Sunday, at 1:05 p.m. ET.
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