Tigers 8, Braves 3. [Boxscore] Record: 13-10 (8-3 home).
Summary: Solid pitching and homers helps Tigers to sweep Braves on a nasty rain-soaked evening.
Pitching: Fister was his usual brilliant self, going a full 7, only permitting 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 hitting batters
while whiffing 8. He improved to 4-0, 2.38 ERA. Apparently that pixie dust he was sprinkled with when he came over still works!
Alburquerque took over for the 8th, and man, he was all over the map tonight. :\ He walked 2, hit one, and had two wild pitches. Not his best outing, but at least he didn't give up any runs.
Jose Valverde took over after Big Al pitched to two batters in the 9th, and he was spot-on perfect. He's looking a bit like his 2011 self, and hopefully, he'll keep that up.
Offense: In the 3rd inning, Jackson
slammed a 3-run homer (2) to left center, Infante added
a solo shot to left (2, homers in consecutive games) in the 7th, and then Miggy, not to be left out of the action, slugged
an opposite-field 3-run tater (3). Martinez also had a nice SF to center to score Miggy back in the 6th. Solid effort all-around by the Tigers.
Notes: The weather was a major factor in this game, made all the worse by the fact that it was an interleague game. If they called it, it would be next to impossible to find a make-up date, as these two teams do not play each other again this season, so they really had no choice but to keep it going.
Footing was a bit treacherous, and it was easy to tell outfielders had a tough time seeing the ball with all that water clouding their vision. The fact that no-one was injured seems like a minor miracle to me.
Next game: Monday, Twins @ Tigers, 7:08 Eastern. TV: FS-D. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket.