Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes 5-23-11

--RHP Rick Porcello threw just 84 pitches while throwing eight innings of one-hit ball at Pittsburgh. Manager Jim Leyland told him at the end of the eighth RHP Jose Valverde would be finishing up. "I wanted the ball," Porcello said, "I wanted to go back out there. It's my competitive nature. But Papa Grande (Valverde) is our guy." Porcello's sinker was in all its glory, except for the flat pitch he threw that SS Ronny Cedeno ripped for a double leading off the sixth inning. He also had an excellent curve plus a good slider.

--SS Jhonny Peralta hit another home run, giving him seven for the season and putting him on track for the 20 or so Detroit was hoping to get when it signed him to a two-year deal this winter. Peralta also singled and both hits went to left, but he's directing balls the opposite way just enough to keep pitchers from working him outside all the time.

--RHP Jose Valverde got his 11th save in 11 chances, but it was a nail-biter for a team on a five-game slide. Valverde was brought in after RHP Rick Porcello had limited the Pirates to one hit over eight innings. LF Xavier Paul singled leading off the ninth and Valverde hit CF Andrew McCutchen to open the inning. But a strikeout and two groundouts to second ended the game. Valverde has relied mainly on his fastball this season, but he struck out PH Ryan Doumit with a split-finger, then threw three straight 96 mph-plus fastballs in retiring 2B Neil Walker to end the game.

--RHP Enrique Gonzalez had his contract purchased after the game by Detroit to lend some veteran presence to the Tigers' ineffective bullpen. Gonzalez was with Detroit earlier but gave up runs in three of his five appearances. "Gonzalez has got some experience," manager Jim Leyland said. "He can take some innings. He's a little more of a veteran guy."

--RHP Brayan Villarreal was optioned to Class AAA Toledo after Detroit's 2-0 win. The rookie showed a lot of promise in April but has been hit hard much of May as he had problems keeping his fastball down, a fastball he needs to throw to offset his excellent slider. "Villarreal is not quite ready for this just yet," manager Jim Leyland said. "And the way we were using him, he's not getting enough work. This is going to be beneficial to the organization but most of all beneficial to him. We think he's a top prospect. That's the category he's in now."

--2B Carlos Guillen was transferred to the 60-day disabled list, a paper move enabling Detroit to purchase the contract of RHP Enrique Gonzalez from the minors without having to lose anyone off its 40-man roster. Guillen would not have been ready to play at the end of the month, when 60 days from the start of the season expire, but possibly could be ready to play at some point in June or July. He suffered another setback last week when his back began hurting and cut short some workouts just as his baseball activities were on the increase.

--1B Miguel Cabrera looks as though his slump is over. Cabrera hit a double, a smash off the wall in right, after hitting the ball hard in his first two trips to the plate. He took a called third strike on a 3-2 pitch he felt was outside in the eighth. Cabrera was 7-for-32 until getting two hits in two games at Boston. Most of his outs in Pittsburgh were shots.

BY THE NUMBERS
16 -- Runs scored by Detroit over its last eight games, during which the club has gone 3-5.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"All you can do is talk to them a little bit, try to relax them. But at the end of the day, they've got to be able to do that. This is really a neat opportunity for a lot of these guys -- Alex (Avila), (Brennan) Boesch, (Andy) Dirks, (Scott) Sizemore. We've got a lot of young guys. At some point, you've got to produce. But you don't want to put a lot of pressure on them. You try to make it relaxing for them as you can. They fight it some. I think young guys always do. But at the same time, I have confidence in them. If I didn't, I wouldn't have them in the lineup." -- Manager Jim Leyland, on the young players he has peppering his struggling offense.

Copyright (C) 2011 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.