Justin Verlander’s seven shut-out innings help Detroit Tigers nip Chicago White Sox 5-0
Detroit Tigers’ starter, Justin Verlander had a tremendous day with the ball as he threw seven strong innings and struck-out six batters with an ERA of 2.36 in the Tigers’ 5-0 win against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago on September
13.
In the first inning, the batters got out and were unable to play some scoring shots. Tigers’ centre-fielder Austin Jackson flied out to centre-field while Delmon Young and Will Rhymes both flied out towards right-field without contributing any run during
the first inning. Similarly, Juan Pierre hit a single-run shot to left-field but Alexei Ramirez lined out to first base and A.J. Pierzynski got out to second base without taking runs.
Tigers got off the mark during second inning and took a 1-0 lead when Alex Avila reached to second base on a fielder’s choice and Miguel Cabrera posted the first run. The batters failed to yield any run from the third to fifth inning. Cabrera walked during
the fourth inning but Victor Martinez popped out to second base and Avila struck-out without raising the lead of the Tigers.
At the bottom of fifth inning, Pierre fouled out to third base, Ramirez grounded out and Pierzynski struck-out without adding the initial run for White Sox. Verlander gave up just two walks and six hits on his 106 pitches. He said, “(Martinez's homer) allowed
me to go out there and be aggressive. That's probably the reason I was able to go seven innings.”
Tigers’ manager, Jim Leyland commented on Verlander and said, “He's the best pitcher I've ever had. I'll leave it at that. Terrific at-bat, it really was. It was a terrific at-bat and he got one and didn't miss it.”
During the sixth inning, Martinez struck a three-run homer towards right-field while Rhymes and Cabrera both contributed two collective runs for the Tigers to give them a 4-0 lead. In the seventh inning, Tigers advanced their lead 5-0 when Cabrera drove
a double-run shot to deep left-field and Young scored the final run.
At the bottom of the eighth inning, White Sox missed some runs when Dayan Viciedo walked but Ramirez struck-out and Pierzynski ground out without taking even a single run. Alex Rios hit a single-run shot to right-field but Viciedo moved to second base.
Consequently, Tigers confirmed a 2-0 lead in the three-game series against the White Sox at Chicago.
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