Tigers quell the Royals threat with a 12-3 thump
The Detroit Tigers stretched their 3 games winning streak to 4 when they laid the Kansas City Royals to waste with a dominating performance. The club, known for its messy performance in the last two months, has fared well in August so far. Winning more games seems to be the mentality and the management is doing well by raising the bar on players’ form and technique. The fans in Comerica Park are enjoying their home team’s fixtures even more.
At the moment, the Detroit side is stuck on the third position of the table below the Chicago White Sox. Their wins ratio is less but now they are looking very dangerous. And that’s something to expect when Miguel Cabrera is part of the ball club’s roster. On the whole, this is not the only thing that has been faring well for the team. There has been the matter of facing weaker teams. Cleveland Indians are on the last ranking position of the American League Central Division. Sweeping them in the series has made the Tigers fierce and determined.
Tigers introduced Jeremy Bonderman on the mound for the fixture. The move was a good one in the opinion of various critics. The pitcher, who has an Earning Run Average of 5.27, had lost his previous 3 matches. It was important to utilize him against teams that were weak to get the best performance out of him. His season statistics of 6 wins and 9 losses was far from reassuring. However, the one thing for the ball thrower to take a positive note from was his 7 years of experience in Major League Baseball. And frankly, that’s what counted as the most precious thing and the player proved his worth. He was able to pitch for 6 innings, striking out 3 players while conceding 8 hits, 2 runs and no walk offs.
The Royals, on the other hand came in to the match with 2 series win. The first was over the Indians and the last was over the Chicago White Sox. The team was already strong and the change in mentality was proving good for the team. Even though they ranked 4th in the Central Division table, the ball club was establishing its form on the games now.
Bruce Chen came in for this fixture. 8 wins and 6 loses was an amazing record for the pitcher who was called to repeat his performance for the game against the Indians on the 18th of August. His Earning Run Average was 4.61. In comparison to Bonderman, his statistics favoured him to do much better. However, it wasn’t to be the case due to the strong batting line that came from the opposition.
Detroit didn’t score runs from any homers and the individual brilliance is what did wonders for the team. The Royals started the scoring with Gregor Blanco. The hitter got on the scoring sheet with the first run when Billy Butler singled to the centre. The Detroit side responded with Austin Jackson who got the run off Miguel Cabrera’s single to the infield third. Johnny Peralta was later walked, which resulted in Johnny Damon’s first run of the game.
The bottom 4th saw more runs for the Tigers as Ryan Raburn scored this time, off Peralta’s double to the left. The Royals struck back in the top 5th as Blanco scored again through Kila Ka’aihue, who grounded out to short stop. The lead would then be extended again when the Detroit hitters responded in the bottom 5th. Rhymes got his first off Raburn’s double to the deep left. Cabrera then scored the fifth for the team when Brandon Inge smashed a sacrifice fly to the right. With the fifth innings at a close, the score favoured the home team 5-2.
Detroit went ahead again in the bottom 6th when Jackson scored off Damon’s single to the right. Damon and Rhymes then scored two when Raburn singled to the left. With the Tigers on 8, Cabrera made his 2nd run of the day through Peralta’s single to the left. Inge then smashed a double to the left and got Peralta and Raburn to score two more runs. Inge then, ran through the last base when Gerald Laird singled to the centre.
The last ran came off Royals’ Mitch Maier who cleared the finish line off Blanco’s sacrifice fly to the centre of the park. The game ended on Detroit 12 – Kansas 3.
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