Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes 10-5-11

--RHP Rick Porcello turned in a solid performance although he was charged with four runs in six innings. "I thought Porcello really threw the ball well," manager Jim Leyland said. "He made a bad pitch to Derek (Jeter) on the double. He actually pitched well, to hold that team down like he did." Porcello pitched aggressively and mixed his pitches well. His mistakes didn't fare so well, however. He gave up a two-run double in the third to Jeter on an 0-1 pitch he got up. CF Curtis Granderson took advantage of a high pitch, too, lining it for an RBI double in the two-run fifth. Porcello also allowed a sacrifice fly to 3B Alex Rodriguez on an 0-2 pitch that was up in the same inning.

--RF Don Kelly almost was a hero. He came up with the bases loaded and two out in the first against struggling RHP A.J. Burnett. Kelly took ball one, then hit a low but rising line drive that CF Curtis Granderson broke in on before realizing the ball was over his head. He reversed and retreated, diving toward center and flagging down the ball in the tip of his glove while going backward. Kelly also singled to right, knocking out Burnett in the sixth.

--DH Victor Martinez accounted for Detroit's only run, lining a 3-1 fastball into the seats in right for a home run leading off the fourth. He also drew a walk in the first that loaded the bases.

--RHP Al Alburquerque has not shown the sharp, killer slider he displayed so much during the regular season. Alburquerque gave up a grand slam on a hanging slider in the first game of the divisional playoffs with New York. He came in during the eighth inning of Game 4 and again had a flat and ineffective slider. He faced just two batters, giving up an RBI single, committing a balk and walking a batter on four straight pitches. He's unlikely to pitch in the fifth game.

--LHP Phil Coke worked a scoreless inning and a not-so-scoreless inning of relief in New York's 10-1 smashing of Detroit. He got through a four-batter seventh unscored upon but gave up three straight singles before being relieved in the eighth. All three scored as the Yankees went from 4-1 to 10-1.

--CF Austin Jackson got his first hit of the Division Series after 10 hitless at-bats. Jackson lined a single to left leading off the fifth but was immediately erased on a double play. He walked for the fourth time in the series, too.

--C Alex Avila is 0-for-12 in the divisional round of the playoffs after an 0-for-3 fourth game. Manager Jim Leyland has dropped him to eighth in the batting order. He was taken out for C Omir Santos in the ninth.

BY THE NUMBERS
.143 -- Batting average by New York's left- and switch-hitting players off RHP Rick Porcello. The six such hitters the Yankees had facing Porcello, who allowed a .321 batting average to lefties during the regular season, were only 2-for-14 off him.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"It's funny. Sometimes you pick a key out in the game and I think the key happened in the very first inning. Donnie Kelly smoked that ball and Grandy made a good play. If it would have gotten over his head and he had fallen down, it might have been an inside-the-park home run." -- Manager Jim Leyland on the game-turning catch CF Curtis Granderson made on RF Don Kelly's sailing line drive to center with the bases loaded and two out in the first.

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