Detroit Tigers ease past Washington Nationals 5-1 – MLB Spring Training
Detroit Tigers continued their marvellous winning streak as they eased past the Washington Nationals 5-1 at Space Coast Stadium in Melbourne, Florida on Monday, March 18 in an important Grape Fruit League encounter of the 2013 Spring Training.
Credit should be given to the Tiger’s pitching rotation that dominated the Nationals’ batting line-up throughout the contest. The starting pitcher and relievers executed their game plan to perfection to leave the National in disarray. Starter Max Scherzer
showed just why he is considered as one of the most dominant forces in the American League as he allowed just one run in five solid innings against a high quality batting line-up.
Striking-out batters at regular intervals, Scherzer created all sorts of problems for the batters and it will be interesting to see if he can continue the good work in the regular season to help the Tigers win their third straight American League Central
Division title.
"He had a good sinker and good slider," Tigers’ Omar Infante said. "We knew he threw a sinker, but today it was really moving."
"I had all four pitches working," he said. "It was one of those days when you have everything working and you can throw anything anytime you want. They don't come too often. It makes things a lot easier and I was keeping everything in the bottom of the zone
and that's why I got all those groundballs."
"The other guys needed to get some work in," Nationals’ starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann said.
Relief pitcher and rookie Bruce Rondon also made his presence felt as he pitched a hitless eighth inning. The 20-year-old is expected to make his Major League Baseball debut on Opening Day. For the Nationals, Rafael Soriano had a forgettable time on the
mound as he took his first loss of the season after allowing four runs on five hits in just over two innings.
Soriano had a decent time on the mound with New York Yankees in 2012 and it will be exciting to see if he can bounce back from a poor showing. The Tigers are looking good during Spring Training and the team will be looking to carry their winning momentum
in to the regular season.
Tags: