Remember last year when the Tigers used Seattle as a punching bag? They averaged almost 6 runs per game against Seattle pitching and went 7-3. Well... it appears that Seattle wasn't too pleased with that, so they decided to put some changes in place.
Going into Friday night's game Seattle had the best record in the American League. They had allowed only 35 runs against so far this year (2nd best in the AL). They had apparently upgraded their defense and were playing "small ball" to dig their way out of the celler where they have been for a while.
So Justin Verlander comes to town and, for the first 4 innings, absolutely dominates the Mariners. I tuned in the game at the start of the 5th inning and Rod and Mario were just updating us that so far not one Mariner had made it to first base- 12 men up, 12 men down and that all of Verlander's pitches were working. And then I saw Adrian Beltre knock a double into the right field corner (so much for the no-hitter). Then Branyan hits a single to right. Then Lopez singles to left and Beltre scores. Johnson sacrifice bunts. So far there have been 3 hits and a sac, but only one run has scored to Detroit leads 3-1. I am getting agitated, but we just need a break to get out of the inning with the lead. Well, it looked like we got the break when Betencourt hit an easy grounder down the line toward third. Inge grabs it cleanly and sees that Branyan is going home. Inge throws too low to Laird, who can't get the bounce into his glove in time to make the tag. The error on Inge not only costs the run but extends the inning. Gutierrez lays down a sweet squeeze that Verlander never really had a chance to make a play on, scoring Lopez. Now the game is tied at 3 with one out. Ichiro singles, driving in Betencourt. The situation gets to Verlander and he throws the next pitch to the backstop, allowing Gutierrez to score. Now it is 3-5. I'll be honest, I couldn't watch anymore and I turned the channel.
So what started out as an amazing pitching display turned into an amazing hitting display in a heatbeat. Verlander only allowed one more run (in the 8th). He only allowed 3 extra base hits in the game and he struck out 8 batters! The Mariners simply chipped at him without mercy in that 5th inning and he couldn't get an out.
I saw today on MLBNetwork that Verlander is tied for the lead in strike outs (20). That is great, but he is 0-2 and his ERA is 7.88 in 3 games. Rod mentioned last night, and I believe it is true, that Verlander throws so many strikes that opposing batters know they will get a pitch they can hit. Last night 79 of 108 pitches were strikes. His strike out per 9 innings pitched is 11.25 while his walks per 9 is 3.94. Hitters were going up expecting pitches they could hit (even if they were mostly singles).
The error by Inge certainly hurt. It extended the inning and cost them a run at the same time. The Tigers have commited 7 errors in 10 games so far this season.
As Ian says at Bless You Boys:
The Tigers beat themselves tonight. (And blew chances to add to that 3-0 lead.) The Mariners continue to find ways to win. What a gut punch.
