http://m.tigers.mlb.com/det/video/search?team_id=116&tagName=Detroit Tigers
Webvideo Highlights of the Tigers 4 - 2 win over the angels.
Justin Verlander: Pure mastery on display. A mistake to Pujols in the first inning was the only one he made on the night. Eight strikeouts, one walk,
Justin Upton: Another missile into the left field seats as J-Up continues to find the power stroke with runners on base.
Cameron Maybin: Another multi-hit game for the firestarter. Maybin singled in the third, doubled in the fifth and ripped a solo shot in the seventh inning.
STATS AND REACTIONS:
This was the third time this season that Brad Ausmus has asked Frankie Rodriguez to get four outs.
Justin Upton improved to 10-for-24 .417 with three doubles, four homers and 11 RBIs since his three-day break.
Cameron Maybin finished a triple shy of the cycle.
The save was the 422nd of Francisco Rodriguez' career, tying him for 5th all-time with Billy Wagner.
His command remains a bit shaky, and what is perfectly clear is that Rodriguez has to get ahead of hitters or he is in real trouble. This was Francisco Rodriguez's 31st save of 4+ outs, 5th among MLB closers since 2002. (Rivera 64, Papelbon 37, Smoltz/Isringhausen 33).
The Tigers' bullpen, so good all summer, is showing some real cracks over the last month.
Justin Verlander now has 189 strikeouts on the season, leaving him three back of the A.L. leader, Tampa Bay's Chris Archer.
Since June 27th, Verlander has allowed three runs in an outing just once.
Verlander's WHIP lowered to 1.017. His hits-per-nine-innings dropped to 6.86. Only once in his Hall-of-Fame-tracking career has he finished a season with better numbers than that. And that was 2011, when he won both the Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards.
Verlander (14-7) finished with eight strikeouts, including five in a row at one point.
He used a nasty slider and a cut fastball to pound the strike zone all night, with first-pitch strikes to 22 of the 28 batters he faced.