On Friday night, Brennan Boesch had an RBI single in the top of the 10th inning, which ended up being the game winner. Jose Valverde closed the door to make sure it was the game winner, for his 31st save of the season.
Brennan Boesch had 2 RBIs. He and Austin Jackson led off the game with back to back triples. Magglio Ordonez scored Boesch with a sac fly, and Detroit was quickly up 2-0 3 batters into the game.
Rick Porcello gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 6.1 innings pitched. But Phil Coke and David Pauley couldn't get him out of a jam. Both allowed inherited runners to score after Porcello left with runners on first and second and 1 out.
Daniel Schlereth pitched a hitless 2 innings of relief. He's been up and down this season, explaining why he's been up in the majors and down in the minors multiple times. But he was sharp Friday and earned his first win of the season. He's 1-1 on the year.
Alex Avila hit his 13th home run the season to round out the scoring. Wilson Betemit was 1-2 with a double and 2 walks in his first game against the Royals since being acquired by Detroit from Kansas City.
On Saturday, Justin Verlander improved to 16-5 on the season, tying CC Sabbathia for the Major League lead in wins. He allowed 3 runs on 5 hits over 7 innings, escaping a jam in the 7th.
Victor Martinez was 3-4 with 2 RBIs. Miguel Cabrera was 2-5 with 2 doubles and an RBI. Magglio Ordonez also drove in a run.
Joaquin Benoit locked down the 8th inning and Jose Valverde pitched a perfect 9th to make it 32-32. The 32 straight saves in a season ties Willie Hernandez for the longest single season save streak. Hernandez of course was named the AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner for the World Series Champion Tigers that season. That also speaks to the difference in closers in the 27 years since then. Hernandez had 32 saves on a 104 win team. That netted him the Cy Young Award, which is rare for a relief pitcher. It also netted him the MVP award. Rare for a pitcher. Pretty much unheard of for a relief pitcher. It was a dominant year in 1984. Fast forward to 2011. Valverde has 32 saves in Detroit's 61 victories. Sure the '84 Tigers blew out alot more teams than the 2011 Tigers do so Valverde gets more save changes. But closers get used in pretty much every tight 9th inning now. That wasn't the case in '84. Jack Morris, Dan Petry, or Milt Wilcox stayed on the mount in the 9th frequently.
On Sunday Kansas City jumped out to a 4-1 lead on Max Scherzer. He allowed 6 hits in 5 innings to fall to 11-7 on the season.
Duane Below pitched a nice hitless 2.1 innings of relief with 4 strikeouts to give Detroit time to mount a rally. But it fell just short. Miguel Cabrera, Austin Jackson, and Andy Dirks all had RBI doubles for Detroit. Alex Avila was also 2-4.
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