Turnbull Cruises Past Brewers, Tigers Win 8-3
Although dropping five of their last six before Tuesday’s game, the Tigers surprisingly sat just two games out of the postseason, thanks to a disastrous previous three weeks from the New York Yankees.
After Tuesday night, disaster lingers for the Yanks, and good fortune continues for the Tigers. The Yankees dropped a close one to the Blue Jays while superb pitching and hitting led Detroit to an 8-3 victory over the Brewers.
A Pure Pitching Performance
A complete 180 turnaround from last week’s start against the Brewers, Spencer Turnbull dominated through six innings on Tuesday.
The Tigers faced Adrian Houser with the MLB’s highest ground ball rate, but when watching the game, you would think Spencer Turnbull held that accolade.
Turnbull retired ten batters via the groundout, three of which the Tigers ended up turning two.
Double plays immensely aided Turnbull’s outing as he allowed four of the six leadoff batters to reach, but luckily Milwaukee failed to capitalize on any of them. Turnbull also struck out three batters as well as walked three batters.
After taking over in the 7th, Gregory Soto allowed back to back singles to start the inning.
Still, he promptly averted the situation, striking out the side, therefore exiting without any harm. Buck Farmer came on in the eighth and quickly disposed of the 8-9-1 hitters, but Jose Cisnero struggled mightily in the 9th.
Cisnero allowed five hits and two hard-hit outs forcing Gardenhire to call on Bryan Garcia, who finally shut the door, finishing Detroit’s 8-3 win.
A Hot Fifth Forms Five
After stranding a triple from newcomer Sergio Alcantara in the third, the Tigers immediately made up for it in the 4th.
Miguel Cabrera reached by a fielder’s choice, then a hot Willi Castro lined one to right to put the Tigers ahead early, 1-0. Then in the 5th, commotion struck.
The Tigers batted through the lineup, finally making solid contact off houser. Capped off by a pair of two-out bases-loaded singles by Jeimer Candelario and Jorge Bonifacio, the Tigers plated five and headed into the 6th inning with a 6-0 lead.
Candelario would later smack a two-run shot in the 7th for insurance, but it wouldn’t be necessary, thanks to Spencer Turnbull and the bullpen.
Another Day, Another HBP
Jonathan Schoop became the latest victim of the injury bug when he left the game in the 4th after getting knocked in the wrist by a 92 mph two-seamer.
Reports say he should be good to go for the near future, but it was yet another scary moment for the ballclub who already suffered the losses of CJ Cron, Jacoby Jones, and Niko Goodrum.
After Schoop left the game, the Tigers deployed quite the budding infield.
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