Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes 7-22-11
--1B Miguel Cabrera singled, doubled and walked twice, as Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire continued his policy of pitching carefully to Detroit's cleanup hitter. Cabrera now has 70 walks this season.
--RHP Justin Verlander dialed up two strikeouts and a groundout to keep RF Michael Cuddyer stranded at third following a leadoff triple in the second inning, then went on to post his 13th victory. Verlander allowed one run on five hits in eight innings. He fanned nine without allowing a walk. "I felt like I was locating my fastball pretty good," Verlander said.
--LF Brennan Boesch hit a big two-run home run in the fifth inning to expand Detroit's lead to 3-0. "Any time you're able to come through and drive in a couple runs and hit a home run in a division game, it's a great feeling," Boesch said. Three times in the game, Boesch faced a 3-2 count, which highlights how much more patient at the plate he is this season.
--RF Magglio Ordonez has a nine-game hitting streak after grounding a single to left in the seventh inning. Ordonez also lined out sharply to third to end the fourth. The time he spent on the disabled list building up the strength in the ankle he broke last July is paying off. He's turning on the ball much better than he was early in the season.
--2B Carlos Guillen has started every game since coming off the disabled list July 16, but that won't continue. Guillen contributed a sacrifice fly and a single to Detroit's 10th straight win over Minnesota; manager Jim Leyland started him even though he was 0-for-17 lifetime against RHP Carl Pavano (now 0-for-19).
"I'm going to watch Guillen real close," manager Jim Leyland said. "I think that's a touch-and-feel thing. He hasn't played in a year. Now that he's playing, he's got a lot of energy, he's playing good, he's swinging it good, so obviously I'm not going to take him out of the lineup. But at some point, you have to watch him. Particularly in the heat, if you play him six or seven days in a row, you might have to think about giving him a blow. It's called common sense, really."
Guillen grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the fourth inning but contributed a sacrifice fly to the two-run sixth and singled his last time up.
--SS Jhonny Peralta came back from having most of Wednesday off to churn out a three-hit game, the last a blow into the upper deck in left that was his 15th home run of the season. Peralta fought off an inside pitch in the fourth to deliver an RBI single to right, which was foreign territory for base hits when Peralta was with Cleveland. His RBI double in the sixth was a shot down the third base line.
"Jhonny was off (Wednesday) and responded with a real good night," manager Jim Leyland said. "That makes you feel good."
--3B Wilson Betemit made his Detroit debut and got his first hit with the Tigers, a ground single to right that preceded a two-run home run by LF Brennan Boesch. Betemit was acquired Wednesday from Kansas City for two minor league prospects. Manager Jim Leyland put Betemit ninth in his batting order. Detroit's new third baseman also made an ugly throwing error in the ninth.
--LHP Duane Below will get another chance to start -- unless Detroit acquires a veteran starter before then. Below is tentatively scheduled to start Monday against the White Sox. Manager Jim Leyland responded, "I think so," when asked if the rookie was going to get a second consecutive start. Below allowed one run on five hits and a walk in five innings Wednesday in his major league debut. "He threw strikes with all his pitches," Leyland said. "That's what he did for me that was the best thing about his whole outing. He wasn't walking everybody. ... He did fine."
--2B/LF Ryan Raburn will get his first start Friday since 2B Carlos Guillen rejoined the Tigers on July 16, but he will have to report to the park to find out where. "I'm going to play Raburn somewhere," manager Jim Leyland said, "but I don't know where. He needs a game. He was swinging good and he's been idle for a while." The return of Guillen squeezed Raburn out of the starting lineup.
BY THE NUMBERS
1950 -- Last time Detroit beat the Minnesota Twins franchise 10 straight times, which has now occurred after the Tigers' 6-2 victory Thursday. Sixty-one years ago, the Twins were still the Washington Senators.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"Brennan (Boesch's) homer was huge for me personally. At that point in the game, to have a three-run lead was a lot different than a one-run lead and allowed me at that point in the game to probably go a little deeper. I could be a little bit more aggressive and get some quick outs." -- RHP Justin Verlander, on the importance of LF Brennan Boesch's two-run blast in the fifth inning that gave Detroit a 3-0 lead over Minnesota.
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