Detroit Tigers 2012 regular season – MLB Review – Part 8
After taking a humiliating loss against the Texas Rangers in first game of the series, the Detroit Tigers were looking to learn from their mistakes to put things back on track but that did not turn out to be the case.
The Rangers handed them another embarrassing defeat at their home ball park to claim a vital 2-0 series lead. In an offensive outburst, Rangers put up a huge total on the board to leave the Tigers in disarray.
Josh Hamilton homered to right in the first inning to put Rangers on the board. Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler made valuable contributions to extend their team’s lead to 9-0 in the second inning. For the Tigers Austin Jackson, Delmon Young and Miguel Cabrera
hit three consecutive home-runs but their effort could not stop Texas from earning a deserving victory.
Tigers’ starting pitcher Rick Porcello paid the ultimate price for his errors on the mound, allowing ten hits and nine runs in just inning to take his first loss of the season. Relief pitcher Duane Below and Daniel Schlereth combined to concede just one
run in eight innings of relief but the night belonged to the Rangers who had no trouble in holding on to their six run lead.
"It's an awesome thing when we all get going like that," said outfielder David Murphy, one of eight Rangers with two hits. "We've got so many bats in our lineup that we're hard to beat if we keep hitting."
Tigers grabbed their first win of the series in Game 3. Showing great determination and fighting spirit, the Tigers prevailed in a 3-2 thriller to stay alive. Ace Justin Verlander turned things around for his side, allowing just four hits and one run in
six sharp innings. Striking-out eight batters, he kept Rangers on the defensive.
"I've never seen a team as aggressive as they are right now -- at the plate, on the bases, everything. They've got a great lineup, and they are locked in, so they are trying to kill every pitch," Verlander said. "They feel good about themselves, and they
are going after everything, so I had to mix in a lot of breaking stuff."
Relief pitchers Octavio Dotel, Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde all displayed high throwing skills to help the Tigers secure a much needed victory. Rangers’ starter, Neftali Feliz allowed three hits and three runs to suffer his first loss of the year.
Delmon Young singled to left in the fourth inning to put Tigers on the board. Backup outfielder earned an RBI single to centre in the fourth to extend the lead to 3-1, which proved to be sufficient for the Tigers to get back into the series.
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