using familiar formula, Starting Pitching + Cabrera + Fielder, beat Rays 6-3.
Max Scherzer pitched seven good innings, allowing three earned while striking out 9 and walking 1.
Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder provided just about all of the offense. Cabrera was 4 for 4 with two home runs and 3 RBIs and Prince Fielder went 2 for 3, driving in 2 and smashing a majestic home run. This was enough offense to win but it came from the usual suspects. Besides Cabrera and Fielder, nobody else could deliver a clutch hit or even a productive out.
Victor Martinez dropped his average down to .225 as he went 0 for 4 leaving 3 runners on base.
The bullpen looked pretty good, Alburquerque, Smyly and Benoit pitched the 7th, 8th, and 9th respectively, without giving up any runs.
It was nice to stop the skid. It was nice to get the win. It was nice to move Scherzers’s record to 12-0. It was nice to get good pitching again, but if nobody but Fielder and Cabrera is going to get a timely hit, the 29 year long World Series drought isn’t ending anytime soon.
“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural