Detroit jumped all over Francisco Liriano in his first start after his no-hitter. Liriano then had to leave early due to illness.
Victor Martinez was 3-4 with 2 doubles and 4 RBIs. Detroit's recent hot streak corresponds to Martinez getting hot. He has a 10 game hitting streak. In that time he has 1 homer and 11 RBIs, and is hitting .472 in that time.
Jhonny Peralta hit a 2-run homer, his 3rd of the season. Brennan Boesch was 2-5 with 2 RBIs.
Scott Sizemore also drove in a run, and Austin Jackson continued to raise his batting average with a 2-5 game, and a double.
Rick Porcello had enough in the tank to wait out a 64 minute rain delay with hail the size of golf balls at the stadium, after having pitched 4 innings with a big lead. He made it through 5, allowing 1 run on 3 hits, to up his record to 3-2 on the season. Brad Thomas allowed 1 run in 2 innings of relief work. Daniel Schlereth and Brayan Villarreal each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the 10-2 rout.
Detroit has now won 7 of 8 to climb back to a game over .500 at 19-18. On the hopeful front they've won 4 straight all on the road. Last year and in the early going this season they've definitely had road woes.
They've been getting it all done with Miguel Cabrera in mini-slump in that time. He's 4-26 with no homers and 3 RBIs over the last 8 games. He was 1-3 with a couple walks and 2 runs scored last night. He'll come out of it for sure. Even so, Detroit's scored 10 runs in 2 straight games with 1 hit and no RBIs from Cabrera.
It was expected that pitching would be key. The better the offense was, the better the team, but pitching would keep them in games. The starts have 16 of the 19 wins, which ties Texas for the Major League lead in that department. They also have 25 quality starts in 37 games. That with neither of the last 2 victories being quality starts because neither Scherzer nor Porcello went at least 6 innings.
There's definitely been more balance this year in the offense than at this point last year. I recall thinking around this time last year that Detroit had 4 regular starters in the lineup still in single digit RBIs. Scott Sizemore (who was sent back to the minors not long after), Adam Everett (who was released), Ryan Raburn (who got hot in the second half), and Gerald Laird (not re-signed this off-season)were all in that feeble boat.
This year Magglio Ordonez of all people is, with 5 RBI. You'd think based on his track record that he will hit, and he has shown signs recently. Brandon Inge may have 9 RBIs if he's still in single digits. But without other gaping holes you can deal with that, given the caliber of defense that Inge plays. Shortstop is much better offensively with Peralta. Catcher is much better with Alex Avila really starting to put it all together this year.
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