Detroit Tigers 2012 regular season review – Part 43
The Detroit Tigers were a very happy bunch of players after they dominated the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of a three match series Manager Jim Leyland was expecting his men to continue the good work in Game 2 on June 20 to take a decisive 2-0 series lead
but the Cardinals had other ideas.
Showing great determination, fighting skills and mental toughness, the Cardinals prevailed in a nail biting contest in Game 2 to stay alive in the series. The pitching rotation that looked completely out of sorts in the opener created all sorts of problems
for the Tigers’ batting lineup at Comerica Park.
Starting pitcher Jake Westbrook threw his first complete game of the season to improve his record to 6-6. Overall, he gave up just five hits and one runs in nine innings while striking out five batters. Using his fastballs and slider extremely effectively,
the right hander played a key role in determining the result of the contest.
His counterpart from Detroit, Rick Porcello paid the ultimate price for his errors on the mound as he allowed ten hits in seven off-target innings to take his fifth loss of the season. Relief pitchers Brayan Villarreal and Duane Below combined to put lid
on the scoring but the night belonged to the Cardinals who held on to their lead comfortably to level up the series 1-1.
"It's a great feeling," Westbrook said. "Every time you go out there, you want to finish what you start."
"Today was definitely a good step in the right direction, and I want to keep that going," Porcello said. "With this offense, if I can go out and throw seven innings and give up two runs, we're going to win a lot of games. If I can keep doing what I did tonight,
we'll be OK."
"He was awesome," St. Louis outfielder Allen Craig said of Westbrook. "When he's pitching like that, he's really fun to play behind."
Austin Jackson drove in the only Tigers’ run as he doubled to deep right in the third inning. Although the Tigers claimed the early lead, they were to unable to finish the game on a similar note.
Second baseman Daniel Descalso helped the Cardinals turned things around as he hit a sacrifice fly to left in the fifth inning to put his side on the board. Catcher Yadier Molina grounded into double play in the sixth inning and Matt Holliday scored to put
Cardinals 2-1 ahead.
Molina made the most of scoring opportunities that were presented to him. He reached first base safely on a throwing error by Tigers’ shortstop Jhonny Peralta and the Cardinals took a decisive 3-1 lead in the eighth inning.
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