Detroit Tigers Inside Pitch 6-27-11

Rookie Alburquerque coming up big for Tigers

He's not getting paid like it, but reliever Al Alburquerque and guys like him are worth their weight in gold.

Alburquerque made his 13th straight scoreless appearance Sunday and was rewarded with a victory when Detroit rallied for seven runs in the eighth inning to defeat Arizona, 8-3.

"He held it to one run," manager Jim Leyland said of his middle-inning ace, who relieved Brad Penny after the starter had surrendered two runs and Detroit's 1-0 lead in the seventh inning.

Alburquerque walked the first batter he faced as he again had trouble with his fastball location, but he ended the inning with a strikeout. And while he gave up two hits in the eighth, he left a runner at third with a slider-laden strikeout of Wily Mo Pena and an easy groundout to short.

"That was huge," Leyland said of keeping the margin at one run. "It could have gotten out of hand."

Alburquerque is thriving in a variety of roles for Detroit, but the rookie is doing a job similar to the one Joel Zumaya did as a rookie in 2006, when the Tigers surprised and reached the World Series.

Leyland mainly is bringing him in for middle- and late-inning situations, where a shutdown inning or two is important.

Those seven-run rallies are nice for winning games, but so is a mid-game reliever who brings water to a wood fire.

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