Miami Marlins tie Detroit Tigers 3-3 in Grapefruit League contest - MLB Update
Miami Marlins’ starter Mark Buehrle threw six innings in a Grapefruit League game played at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida on March 26, 2012 as they tied Detroit Tigers 3-3.
A kind of maturity Tigers have shown in Spring Training suggests that they are going to be a serious contender for Championship this season.
Game started with Marlins scoring one run in first and Tigers in reply surging to a one run lead. As innings progressed, not many runs came off.
As soon as Tigers added one more run to their lead in fourth, chasing it down for Marlins became difficult.
Since Tigers managed to protect their two run lead until sixth, victory appeared imminent for them. Somehow Marlins tied the score in the ninth and thus another inning was to be played, which did not produce any result.
Buehrle had time to respond to his critics who were growing restive with his ordinary Spring Training ERA. He had a fantastic last season and because of the same reason Marlins took him from free agency during off-season. Since he was not living up to his
credentials, it was obvious for him to take a swipe from fans.
In a successful attempt to win back confidence of management, he struck out five and while being hit six times he never allowed any walk.
Still however all three runs Tigers scored came off his pitches including two homers he was punished.
"I really made one bad pitch and it was hit out of the park," Buehrle said. "I was hitting my spots and feel good. I felt good in my last inning and I could have gone another."
Marlins’ centre fielder Emilio Bonifacio made one hit in three at-bats along with one run he completed. Contribution of second baseman Omar Infante was no less significant as he also struck one hit and scored one run.
Marlins were clueless before Tigers’ starter Rick Porcello. As he spent seven innings on the mound, he drew four strike-outs and allowed just one walk.
After beating Tampa Bay Rays yesterday, Marlins followed with a tie. However, a good performance in last two games cannot mask ten losses they experienced earlier in Spring Training. Thus, they cannot afford complacency in any case especially under a fact
that regular season is just few weeks away.
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