Tigers 4 - Orioles 1 ? Tommy Hunter was one strike away from closing a tight 1-0 win. Ahead 1-and-2 on Torii Hunter, with the tying run on second, but lost him. That brought up ? uh-oh ? Guess who?s back?
And with reinforcements. Miguel Cabrera?s long fly on a 1-0 pitch just cleared the wall ? and more importantly, David Lough?s leap ? and Victor Martinez got to trottin? even more quickly and decisively.
Good Ubaldo showed up ? 7 IP, 3 singles, 2 walks ? and I think Detroit knew it after their first three grounded out. Both V-Mart Martinez and Miggy ran on a full count after their singles, and both were dead ducks. (No matter what you may think, it wasn?t a double-steal, throw-him-out/throw-him out. Cabrera actually made a decent showing; at least he got to the bag.) Drew Smyly battled the O?s after an Adam Jones homer, pitching past Nelson Cruz?s leadoff double in the 2nd and holding at 1-0 through six.
Torii led off the 7th with Detroit?s third hit off Ubaldo. Then a gift, and a re-gift: Miggy drew a 4-pitch walk, setting up V-Mart. Ball one bounced away, not far, but Hunter tried for third, and was nailed ? with Cabrera glued to his sack. You know what?s coming: Next pitch, 4-6-3, inning over.
One more Detroit steal try, after a hit started the 9th, but with another strong throw, pinch-runner Rajai Davis had no better luck than the leadfoots ? whoops, reversal! Unlucky there, Tommy got lucky with two lineouts. But his luck ran out.
So, who was that masked Oriole, anyway? Milwaukee sent their Caleb down, but Baltimore catcher Caleb Joseph got his first big-league hit tonight, first sac bunt, and threw out three runners. To recap my Caleb obsession: Caleb Johnson played in 1871, the dawn of recognized ?major-league? baseball. Then, 141 years passed with no Calebs. Last year, Caleb Gindl and Caleb Thielbar had good rookie years. And now, Caleb Joseph. Pretty soon, I guess, every Tom, Dick and Miggy ?
Martinez struck out again, but the homer kept pace ? 9 HRs, 8 Ks this year.
OK, Miggy?s still not quite Miggy, but 33 RBI in 35 games is good enough.
from HighHeatStats