With former Tigers Alan Trammell and Kirk Gibson on the other side of the field, the Tigers took care of the Diamondbacks this afternoon. They had one good inning but that was more then enough for the Tigers to walk away with the win.
Brad Penny had one of his better starts of the season but when he left with two outs in the seventh, the Tigers were down 2-1. They weren’t able to do much against Joe Saunders but once he came out the floodgates opened. In all, the Tigers scored seven in the eighth. Jhonny Peralta led the way and he went three for four with a home run, two runs and two RBIs. Miguel Cabrera was two for four with two RBIs and Brandon Inge drove in two, his first two RBIs since coming off of the disabled list.
Penny gave up two runs in 6 2/3 innings. That’s two straight solid starts for him and not a win (for him) to show for either one of them. Al Alburquerque picked up the win and he’s now 5-1. He struck out two and he now has 46 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings. People wanted Joel Zumaya back and they pretty much got him in Alburquerque this year.
I went to the White Sox game today. First time I’ve ever been to U.S. Cellular Field and now I’m going to go to the White Caps game tomorrow assuming the rain holds. I’m watching the Giants beat the Indians right now if their 3-0 lead holds, it means the Tigers will have sole possession of first place. It’d be fitting because we knocked off the Diamondbacks for the Giants.
The Tigers make up a game against the Blue Jays tomorrow so they lose their second day off in the month. Max Scherzer throws for the Tigers and rookie Zach Stewart goes for the Jays. Game time is 6:05 on this one. The Indians travel out to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks and the White Sox have the night off.