And what a game it was. If nothing else, how many times do you see the infield fly rule called twice in one game? Apparently I didn’t quite get it (no big shock there). I always thought that the rule gave a free pass for the runners to return to their bases. But no. Runners can advance “at the risk of the ball being caught.” Which is exactly what happened to Prince Fielder in the third. Someone’s head wasn’t exactly in the game.
Nor was he alone. Neither team had much at stake tonight. Detroit clinched the AL Central by beating us yesterday. We were nowhere near taking over second place from the White Sox or being overtaken by Cleveland. So both managers were playing around with their lineups. Jim Leyland pulled Miguel Cabrera in the middle innings, no doubt to help preserve his bid for the triple crown.
Nor would we have done as well against Doug Fister if he hadn’t been treating this as a short, practice game. Billy Butler – subbing for injured Eric Hosmer – managed not one but two amateurish errors. Not that anybody exactly brought his A game.
Anybody besides Alcides Escobar, that is. Batting in his usual number two spot, he started the game by planting one in his favorite homer spot in the left field bullpen. He hit five home runs this year, and we saw four of them. Nor was he slouching in the field. He made a spectacular throw from deep in the pocket to get Avisail “First Name Sounds Like Arthritis Medicine” Garcia in the eighth and made another similarly fantastic play in the ninth. His efforts made a difference in a game as close as this, a welcome treat to close a long season.
The box score: TIGERS (2) AT ROYALS (4) TIGERS AB R H BI ROYALS AB R H BI Quintin Berry 4 1 1 0 Jarrod Dyson 4 1 1 0 Ramon Santiago 4 0 1 0 Alcides Escobar 4 1 3 2 Miguel Cabrera 3 0 2 2 Alex Gordon 3 0 1 0 Omar Infante 1 0 0 0 Billy Butler 2 0 1 0 Prince Fielder 2 0 0 0 Salvador Perez 4 0 0 1 Avisail Garcia 1 0 0 0 Jeff Francoeur 4 1 2 1 Delmon Young 4 0 0 0 Brayan Pena 4 0 0 0 Alex Avila 2 0 0 0 Tony Abreu 2 0 0 0 Bryan Holaday 1 0 0 0 Irving Falu 4 1 1 0 Brennan Boesch 4 0 0 0 Don Kelly 4 0 1 0 Danny Worth 2 1 1 0 TOTALS 32 2 6 2 TOTALS 31 4 9 4 TIGERS 002 000 000 -- 2 ROYALS 100 020 01x -- 4 LOB--TIGERS 6, ROYALS 8. ERR--Billy Butler. HR--Jeff Francoeur, Alcides Escobar. HBP--Tony Abreu. SB--Alcides Escobar. TIGERS IP H R ER BB SO HR Doug Fister 4 1-3 7 3 3 2 2 1 Luke Putkonen 1 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Darin Downs 1 1-3 2 1 1 2 1 1 Brayan Villarreal 0 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 ROYALS Jeremy Guthrie 6 5 2 2 3 3 0 Francisley Bueno 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Kelvin Herrera 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 Greg Holland 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 BALK--Jeremy Guthrie. SO--Ramon Santiago, Delmon Young, Don Kelly, Alex Avila, Omar Infante, Brennan Boesch, Jeff Francoeur, Jarrod Dyson (2). BB--Prince Fielder, Alex Avila, Danny Worth, Billy Butler (2), Alex Gordon, Tony Abreu. NOTES: Last game of the season LOCATION: The K CONDITION: Dry WEATHER: Cool, Clear, Calm Buck: W- (“Involved with education”?) Guard: USAF Anthem: Okay Umpires H - Knight 1 - Winters 2 - Wegner 3 - Holbrook Time: 7:11 Temp: 74
No comments:
Post a Comment