Justin Verlander ineffective as Detroit Tigers annihilated by San Francisco Giants 3-8 – MLB Update
Detroit Tigers were humiliated by the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, October 24 in the opening game of their best of seven games World Series.
Tigers looked rusty right from the start of the contest. Starting pitcher Justin Verlander had a forgettable time on the mound as he gave up six hits and five runs in just four innings to take his first loss of the post-season.
Verlander, who created all sorts of problems for the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, struggled against the Giants’ batting line-up big time. Relief pitcher Al Alburquerque conceded one run in two innings to slow things down but
the Giants had taken an impassable 6-0 lead by the end of the sixth inning.
"We played our last game only two days ago," said Pablo Sandoval who homered three times. "We're still hot. We just came here and played our game."
"I just didn't execute tonight," Verlander said. "It was kind of a battle from the get-go. They took advantage of that and swung the bat pretty well, especially Pablo and (Marco) Scutaro. A couple of good bounces their way, bad for us."
"I'm one that's been around long enough to know that a lot of things happen in this game. This was a big-hyped game with Justin, probably a lot of pressure on him," Leyland said.
Jose Valverde continued his poor form as he gave up four hits and two runs in 0.1 inning to help the Giants establish complete control over the contest.
Tigers’ closer had blown saves against the Yankees and the Oakland Athletics as well and he had an excellent opportunity to restore his lost pride but the night belonged to the Giants who dominated their opponents in almost all aspects of the game to take
a vital 1-0 series lead.
After the Giants raced to a 6-0 lead, Miguel Cabrera singled to centre in the sixth inning to put Tigers on the board. Jhonny Peralta hit the only home-run for the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth but his effort was never going to be enough.
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