Detroit Tigers 2012 regular season review – Part 45
The Detroit Tigers showed great determination and fight spirits to prevail against the defending champions St. Louis Cardinals. Manager Jim Leyland was expecting his men to continue the good work in their next series against the Pittsburgh Pirates but that
did not turn out to be the case.
Tigers’ starting pitcher Doug Fister looked completely out of sorts as he made a number of errors on the mound. Overall, he gave up eight hits and four runs in six innings to take his fourth loss of the season. Relief pitcher Luis Marte pitched two scoreless
innings but the night belonged to the Pirates who held on to their three run lead with east to take 1-0 series lead.
Pirates’ starter A.J. Burnett produced a match winning performance as he allowed just two hits in six scoreless innings to lay the foundations of an impressive victory.
"He relied a lot on his experience, a lot on his catcher and a lot on making pitches," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said of Burnett. "He got ahead in counts, they'd run it back to three balls then he'd find a way to get outs. He kept them from scoring,
kept them from crossing the plate and you can't ask for more than that."
"It's nice because it means the team is winning," Burnett said, "but I wasn't thinking about it. I just went out there and tried to take the baton from J-Mac and carry it on."
Tigers’ offence should have been blamed for wasting a large number of scoring opportunities during the contest. Only Ramon Santiago managed to trouble the scorers as he doubled to deep centre in the seventh inning to help his side avoid a shutout defeat.
Neil Walker provided the Pirates with the kind of start they were hoping for as he singled to centre in the first inning to put his side on the board. Garrett Jones also had a great time on the mound as he grounded into double play to double Pirates’ lead
to 2-0.
Burnett gave Pittsburgh complete control of the situation as he grounded into fielder’s choice to catcher in the second inning.
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