The Mighty Miggy hit his 39th home run, a solo shot, in the bottom of the 9th to give the Tigers a 6-5 win and even this 5 game series with the Royals.
Despite leaving 9 men on base, the Tigers offense was able to bail the pitching staff out tonight. The pitching wasn’t horrible but it is not what Tigers fans have come to expect.
Doug Fister lasted 6 and 1/3. He surrendered 3 earned. Fister walked 2, struck out 6 and gave up 10 hits.
The top of the 4th inning featured one of the strangest plays I’ve ever seen. With Chris Getz on first base and nobody out, Fister threw a pitch that Alcides Escobar foul tipped behind home plate. Home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski ruled it a wild pitch. While Brayan Pena was waiting for the umpire to hand him a new ball, Chris Getz ran all the way to 3rd base. If it wasn’t for Doug Fister, realizing what had happened, and retrieving the ball, Getz would have scored. As it turned out, Getz ended up scoring when Escobar doubled to tie the game at three.
Jim Leyland and Brayan Pena, furious at the call, were both thrown out of the game. Replays showed that the call was blown. It was clearly a foul tipped ball.
Withe score tied at 4 in the bottom of the 7th, Prince Fielder homered to give the Tigers the lead back 5-4 but the bull pen couldn’t hold it. Jose Veras allowed the tying run in the top of the 8th and the stage was set for Miggy’s heroics.
Royals reliever Aaron Crow came in to pitch the 9th with Miggy leading off. Crow fell behind Miggy 3-1 and I was sure he was just going to put him on. And in fact, he may have been trying to. The 3-1 pitch looked to be about 6 inches off of the plate away, but Miggy expanded the strike zone and did what he does. He hit a bullet over the right field fence giving the Tigers a much needed win.
The running game is becoming a big problem for the Tigers. They can’t stop anybody from running and this deficiency is compounded when the pitching staff gives up walks. They need to find a way to address this but I’m not sure they have the tools to do so. Neither Pena, Holaday nor Avila have been very effective at throwing this year. I hope this doesn’t come back to bite the Tigers in a crucial situation, like a playoff or World Series game.
On the flip side of the coin, the Tigers did a bit of running themselves tonight. They scored their third run in the bottom of the second on a suicide squeeze. With Infante on 3rd and one out, Iggy, laid down a bunt that not only scored Infante but gave Iglesias another infield hit.
With a win tomorrow, the Tigers can win the five game series 3-2.
Update, Cleveland Indian’s second baseman, Jason Kipnis, tweeted this today, “Dear Miggy… You’re making the rest of us look bad.. Knock it off! – MLB Hitters”. Hat Tip to Sark for showing me the Kipnis tweet. I have retweeted the Kipnis tweet and it can be seen on the right side of this page.
“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 
A great end to a really lousy game. I agree that they were trying to put him on, but he’s too smart a hitter and was looking for something away and got good wood on it.
Fister was ok, a little wild in a couple spots, but I thought overall he pitched well. Smyly has struggled a bit lately, and Veras is starting to confirm my fears that he is another like Valverde.
About the bad call, it amazes me how arrogant the umpires have become. Once again they not only blow the call, but have the stones to throw out the player and manager for questioning it. Truly amazing!
The Royals have zero fear with running on the Tigers catchers & pitchers. Basically, their game plan is to get a jack-rabbit on base, steal second, and score on anything. That is pretty much their offense, and the main reason they win more often against the Tigers. However, it probably doesn’t work as well against other teams that can control the running game. Thus KC will contend for a while but eventually fall short.
Scherzer buries them on Sunday…
P.S. my personal consecutive on-base streak came to an end this morning at 10 at-bats. Time to start a new streak on Monday.
Sark, sorry to hear you streak ended but CONGRATS!!! 10 ABs in a row, that’s GREAT!!!
It would be nice to get both pitching and hitting tomorrow. I’ve been thinking the thing that has happened to Tigers pitchers the last week or so is the hits. The walks haven’t even been that bad, but they are giving up a lot of hits. Luckily, most have been singles but 10 hits in 6 and 1/3? THAT’S A LOT!!
Two things…(1) Home plate ump Mike Muchlinski is NOT a household name (unless you live in a house named vacation replacement) I believe we need to get a little “hockeyesk” and take his #. (2) Something kinda missed in everything last night was the Infante early exit…..let us hope that is NBD! P.S. Tiger authentics has a game worn Dirksenburger jersey available just so ya know!
I was wondering what happened to Infante?
Thanks, but I’ll pass on the Dirksburger jersey. I thought he was coming out of it but it looks like his 4-4 night was just an anomaly. I don’t think he’s had a hit since.