Detroit Tigers 2012 regular season review – Part 55
After securing a rare series victory against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, the Detroit Tigers’ Manager Jim Leyland was expecting his men to continue their good work in their next series against the struggling Minnesota Twins.
However, despite having the momentum on their side, the Tigers were unable to find winning ways in Game 1 on July 2. Tigers’ offence failed to live up to the expectations as it managed to put just four runs on the board. Twins’ batting lineup, on the other
hand, made the most of available scoring opportunities to help their side prevail in a nail biting encounter.
After Miguel Cabrera gave Tigers the early lead, Josh Willingham singled to centre in the fourth inning to levels core 1-1 and add spice to the proceedings. Trevor Plouffe singled to centre and Ryan Doumit singled to right in the fourth inning to help Minnesota
come back from behind to claim a crucial 3-1 lead.
"We've got some momentum now and we want to keep that going," Josh Willingham said. "We got the early runs, but you knew that offense was going to get them back into the game. Our bullpen's been great and they shut them down tonight."
"This is all about getting 900 wins for our organization," Manager Ron Gardenhire said. "The people above me who gave me the chance, and the players that have gone out there and played the game. All I have ever had to do is tell them to play the right way,
play hard and respect the game. They did the rest."
Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau also showed nerves of steel under pressure as they stretched Twins’ lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning. For the Tigers, Cabrera and Delmon Young made useful contributions to reduce the deficit to 4-6 but the night belonged to the
Twins who held their nerves to wrap up an impressive win against their American League Central Division rivals.
Tigers’ starter Doug Fister paid the ultimate price for his errors on the mound as he allowed eight hits and six runs in just four innings to take his fifth consecutive loss of the year.
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