Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes 5-11-11

--RHP Rick Porcello survived a 64-minute rain delay and a solo home run to make it through five innings -- just enough to get credit for a victory Tuesday. Porcello was working with a 4-0 lead at Minnesota and had given up a leadoff single to DH Jason Kubel in the fourth when rain and hail put the game on hold. He threw in the tunnel during the delay and was able to come out when play resumed, working the fourth and fifth before being taken out. Porcello got nine groundball outs, a success marker because it means his sinker is working. His slider was also effective. Porcello had trouble with his control in the first two innings but threw more strikes after that.

--SS Jhonny Peralta is a favorite of manager Jim Leyland. Peralta entered Tuesday's game hitting .288 and playing the reliable, unspectacular defense the Tigers expected when they signed him to a two-year deal to extend his stay in Detroit. He stroked a two-run home run in the second to give Detroit a 2-0 lead, giving him three home runs and 18 RBI this season. Peralta was looking for a fastball on 2-0 and ended LHP Francisco Liriano's bid for a second straight no-hitter.

"He's like that old pair of shoes," Leyland said, "and you kind of think you should get a new pair, but they're so comfortable that you don't get rid of them and keep wearing them. He's just comfortable. He's a pro, he doesn't say much, comes in, does his job. He's the same every day, practically. He goes about his business the same. He's very methodical, a great guy, and I think he's in a perfect spot down in the seven hole in the lineup."

Leyland said before the season that 15 home runs and 75 or more RBI from Peralta would be fine by him.

--DH Victor Martinez extended his hitting streak to 10 games and provided some of the protection for 1B Miguel Cabrera the Detroit organization was thinking of when it signed him as a free agent in the offseason. He drove in four runs, giving him seven in two days. Martinez walked and scored on SS Jhonny Peralta's third home run in the second inning. He batted in the third after Cabrera was walked intentionally to load the bases with two outs, and he grounded a 3-2 pitch up the middle for a two-run single. He doubled Cabrera home after Cabrera singled to lead off the fifth, then turned around to the left side and doubled again in the seventh. His final RBI came on a fielder's choice grounder to first with runners on second and third in the eighth.

"You ain't seen nothing yet," said SS Jhonny Peralta, who played several seasons with Martinez in Cleveland.

--CF Austin Jackson doubled and singled, scoring once, and drew a rare intentional walk as further evidence his early-season floundering is over. Jackson has hit the ball hard for about a week and has his batting average modestly above .200 for the first extended period of the season.

--RF Magglio Ordonez hit third despite the fact LF Brennan Boesch was in the lineup (batting seventh against a left-handed starter), but Ordonez was unproductive. He went 0-for-4, grounding into a double play and striking out twice.

--1B Miguel Cabrera looks as if he's going to make a run at the league record for intentional walks he barely missed last season. Cabrera was walked on purpose for the 10th time already this season after being walked intentionally 32 times last year, one off the league mark. Cabrera didn't see many good pitches at Toronto, collecting just one hit in the series, but he went 1-for-3 Tuesday at Minnesota. Cabrera has been playing with a bad back, and it would not be surprising to see him get a game off with a short turnaround Wednesday followed by no game Thursday.

--LHP Daniel Schlereth struggled through a scoreless eighth inning, giving up a walk and hitting a batter. However Schlereth, who had limited batters to a .130 batting average in his previous seven games, did not allow a hit in his inning. "He's doing very well," manager Jim Leyland said. "He's getting calmer, more confident and done an excellent, excellent job. I see a guy that's talented, a little bit of a flop when he came up the first time last year. Then, when he came back the second time, he made a lot of progress, was pretty good, then he comes to spring training and he's sweating about if he'll make the club or not."

BY THE NUMBERS
37 -- Games played by Detroit this season, and the team has an extra-base hit in each one. It's the longest such streak by the Tigers since they had at least one extra-base hit in the first 51 games of the 1986 season.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I like the direction we're headed right now. We're meshing right now." -- 3B Brandon Inge, after Detroit's fourth road win in a row pushed the Tigers a game above .500 at 19-18.

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