Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes 5-12-11

--3B Brandon Inge hit an RBI triple off the wall in center field to drive in the tie-breaking run in the ninth. Inge fouled off several 3-and-2 fastballs, with SS Ramon Santiago running on each pitch, before getting his hit. "He kept throwing pitches over the plate that I kept missing," Inge said. "I was getting frustrated about that. I just finally told myself, 'All right, no more fouling off.' Fortunately I had a pitch I could drive and I didn't miss that one." Inge had singled earlier in the game and is struggling to keep his batting average above .200.

--1B Jhonny Peralta made his third career appearance as a first baseman. Manager Jim Leyland did not have Peralta in the starting lineup, intending to give him a day off from playing shortstop, but 1B Miguel Cabrera was ejected in the sixth inning for arguing a called third strike. Leyland subbed UT Don Kelly in for Cabrera but pinch-hit for him with Peralta in the eighth. Peralta hit a two-run home run to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead and finished the game at first base. Peralta played first base twice last season after Detroit obtained him in a mid-season trade with Cleveland.

--RHP Joaquin Benoit, who gave up nine runs as April turned into May, picked up a victory for getting five outs, but it wasn't without a struggle. Benoit got a week off to correct his mechanics and manager Jim Leyland has been trying to ease him back into his setup role. He was brought in to quiet things down in the seventh after LHP Daniel Schlereth gave up hits to the two left-handers he faced. Benoit gave up an infield single, but got a strikeout-throwout double play to end the inning. His control was a little spotty and Benoit gave up a single and RBI double when Leyland let him pitch the eighth. Detroit rallied for two in the ninth and held on to win, with Benoit getting credit for the victory.

--CF Austin Jackson has a six-game hitting streak. Jackson grounded a single to left in the sixth, his only hit in a 1-for-5 game. But his biggest contribution to Detroit's 9-7 win at Minnesota was a suicide squeeze bunt with one out in the ninth following 3B Brandon Inge's tie-breaking RBI triple. "The credit goes to Austin Jackson," said manager Jim Leyland, who called for the move to get the add-on run. "He got a nasty pitch. Most people don't get that pitch down." RHP Matt Capps threw a low outside breaking pitch on a 1-and-0 count and Jackson bent his knees to get the bunt down in front of the plate.

--1B Miguel Cabrera was thrown out of a game Wednesday for the first time since being traded to Detroit for the 2008 season. Cabrera was ejected once when he was with the Florida Marlins. He got thumbed for complaining about a called third strike in the sixth inning, but not before once again demonstrating why it's a mistake not to walk him with a base open and runners in scoring position. Cabrera drilled a double into left center that scored runners from first and third as the Tigers were getting three runs in the fifth. "I'm glad I didn't give him a day off," manager Jim Leyland said. "I was thinking about it."

--DH Victor Martinez had a nice trip. Martinez went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI to complete a 13-for-23 six-game trip during which he hit three home runs and drove in 13 runs. Detroit won the last five games of the journey.

--RHP Joel Zumaya had the screw in his repaired right elbow replaced, the joint cleaned out and was told nothing could be detected as the cause of his lingering elbow pain. "Nothing to indicate any problem," trainer Kevin Rand said of the results of Tuesday's procedure by Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola, Fla. "Basically, they cleaned out the joint. He'll be re-evaluated in six weeks. He cleaned out the joint and retracted a screw and put in another in case that was the cause of the pain. This one's a headless screw that buries in (to the bone) deeper." Rand also backed off his previous forecast that the procedure would finish Zumaya for the season, saying it was "too early" to tell.

BY THE NUMBERS
11 -- Road victories by Detroit out of 22 games thus far this season. Last year the Tigers won only 29 times all year on the road.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I'm glad I didn't give him a day off. I was thinking about it." -- Manager Jim Leyland, on his decision to keep 1B Miguel Cabrera in his lineup. Cabrera had a two-run double that sparked Detroit to a 5-2 lead and, even though he was ejected from the game for disputing a called third strike in the sixth, one of his replacements, 1B Jhonny Peralta, pinch-hit a two-run home run that brought Detroit back after blowing its lead.

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