The Detroit Tigers squeaked out a win against the Chicago White Sox yesterday with a 3-1 victory, taking them to 14-13 on the young season. The Tigers 3 runs came on homeruns by Austin Jackson (1st inning), Prince Fielder (3rd inning), and Andy Dirks (8th inning). The win came behind a great pitching performance by Rick Porcello (3-2) who went 6 1/3 innings with 5 K’s and only 1 ER. Tigers closer Jose Valverde had another shaky outing, putting 2 runners on base before retiring the final out to record the save.
The Tigers batters have been heating up as of late, but this is something that we all knew would eventually happen with our potent lineup. What I question is what will be done about our pitching, more importantly our starting pitching.
The Tigers are going to be starting a 3 game set against the Seattle Mariners tomorrow and will also be getting back Doug Fister, who is coming off an injury. Will this be enough to push the Tigers over the hump and bring them back into the “elite” category they were once given in the pre season? Or are there more concerns that need to be addressed than just that?
Lets assume that Fister comes back and is just as good as he was last year (which isn’t a given), the Tigers still need a solid 5th starter and for Porcello and Max Scherzer to be more consistant then they have been. We all knew going into the season that Scherzer was going to be a roller coaster on the mound, but what makes that harder to deal with is when Porcello and Papa Grande are as well.
The answer that all Tigers fans should be looking for is adding another pitcher to the rotation to solidify the staff. This should have been addressed in the off season, and it wasn’t. It needs to be addressed now, the question is… will it?
The Tigers next game is at 10:10pm tomorrow in Seattle where the Tigers will be sending Doug Fister (0-0) to the hill against Seattle’s Blake Beaven (1-3).
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About Dave Danese
