Game 2 Recap

Minnesota Twins 3 (1-1) -Detroit Tigers 2 (1-1)WP: Perkins (1-0, 0.00ERA) LP: Phil Coke (0-1, 9.00 ERA)

Summary:

The Tiger's second gameof the season felt very similar to the first.  The starter, Anibal Sanchezpitched five shutout innings with an elevated pitch count while allowing onlytwo hits and walking three.  He left the rest up to the bullpen with a 2-0lead.  The Tigers were able to push a couple of runs of two outs in thethird inning and fifth innings, both off Miguel Cabrera singles.

Darin Downs relievedSanchez, tossing 1 1/3 innings, striking out three of the five batters he facedand allowing just one run in the seventh when Wilkin Ramirez doubled off BrayanVillarreal to score Trevor Plouffe.  

Tigers 2 - Twins 1 - Endof 7th Inning

Benoit pitched ascoreless eighth inning, getting through the heart of the Twins order: JoeMauer, Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau, and Ryan Doumit.  

Tigers 2 - Twins 1 - Endof 8th inning

Benoit started the ninthinning and walked the first batter he faced, Trevor Plouffe.  Leylandbrought in his guy for now, Phil Coke.  Chris Parmalee flew out on onepitch for the first out.  Next up, Brian Dozier fought off a 1-2 fastballfor a single, allowing for runners on the corners.  The next batter,Eduardo Escobar, saw one pitch, a misplaced fastball and hit it to left center,where neither Andy Dirks nor Austin Jackson could get.  Both runnersscored and the Twins walked off with a big win.

Twins 3 - Tigers 2 -FINAL

3 Alpha Cats:

• Anibal Sanchez: He pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, walking three and striking out five.  He wasn't very efficient, but he was effective.  This was a very good start considering in his last Grapefruit start, he allowed nine runs.
• Downs / Villarreal / Benoit: Despite the fact the bullpen gave up one run and Benoit issued the walk in the ninth, they did a good job of shutting down the big bats in the Twins lineup and gave the Tigers a chance to win the game at the end.
• Miguel Cabrera: After going 0-5 in the first game, Cabrera went 2-4, while driving in both Tiger runs with two-outs. 

3 Kittens:

• Phil Coke: He still cannot get right handed batters out. Parmalee, a lefty he retired.  Dozier and Escobar were both right-handed.  Last year, right-handed hitters hit .396 against him (40 for 101) and right handed hitters burned him today too.  Granted it was the bottom of the Twins lineup so I do agree with Leyland's decision to close with Coke.  However, Coke left a couple of very hittable fastballs over the plate and it cost his team the win.  He'll bounce back.
• The Tigers Offense: The Tigers managed seven hits, all singles, and a measly 2 runs against a very average Twins squad.  This team should be scoring more than 2 run with the bats they have.  It's very early in the season and they will warm up in no time.  
• Closer by Committee: This approach will be second guessed each time it fails until the Tigers have a solidified closer.  Tonight for example, Coke could have pitched the eighth to face Mauer and Morneau and Benoit could have closed it out.  But, if that does not work, fans would be asking why didn't Coke close again? It is a battle no one can win.  I think the approach can work, but it will be a hard fought road.