Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes 6-13-11

RHP Rick Porcello allowed three runs in seven innings but all three in the same inning and it turned the game around. Still, manager Jim Leyland termed his effort "terrific. I thought he pitched a great game. He did exactly what he needed to do, keep 'em down and give us a shot at a great pitcher (RHP Felix Hernandez). Those add-on runs were really killer." Porcello posted four shutout innings but allowed a leadoff home run in the fifth, then three straight two-out hits beginning with an RBI single by RF Ichiro Suzuki. "I felt like we were in pretty position to win the game," Porcello said. "I had the lead, felt like I was in command of the game. I made some bad pitches there in the fifth. I made a mental error to Ichiro. With a right-hander coming up on deck. That's a guy I don't want to give up a hit to. I threw a backdoor slider, really not a good pitch at all. Paid for it. So that one's entirely on me. I felt like I really blew it with that one inning. If you want to beat Felix Hernandez and that kind of caliber pitcher, you can't have innings like that."

--DH Alex Avila added another good game at the plate to his other two appearances as Detroit's designated hitter. Avila had a pair of RBI singles in the Tigers' 7-3 loss to Seattle and also reached base on an error that the shortstop stumbled on right after the up-the-middle grounder hit him on the heel of his glove.

--C Victor Martinez collected a pair of singles and nearly threw out 3B Chone Figgins stealing second in the fifth inning, his low throw bouncing past a closed glove. Martinez has hit better as Detroit's DH than when catching but manager Jim Leyland likes to keep him in the lineup at the same time as Alex Avila because both have become primary hitters for the Tigers. Avila was the DH in the series finale with Seattle.

--RHP Joaquin Benoit had a nice little streak of scoreless relief appearances going -- 10 games -- but it came to an end with a two-run home run off a soft serve in the eighth inning. Benoit had put up 8 2/3 innings of run-less relief until relieving LHP Daniel Schlereth, who had issued a one-out walk in the eighth, and throwing a high changeup that C Miguel Olivo slammed over the left-field fence for his second home run of the game.

--CF Austin Jackson is back to the hot-hitting multi-hit games he used to finish second in last year's voting for the league's Rookie of the Year. Jackson had a double plus a single, the fifth game with more than one hit in his last 13. "He's our catalyst," manager Jim Leyland has said on multiple occasions.

--1B Miguel Cabrera was not given a chance to beat Seattle. He was given very hittable pitches in four games against the Mariners and went 2-for-12 in the series. Cabrera saw one strike in drawing walks his first two times up in the series finale, singled to center on the first pitch he saw his third time up and walked on a 3-2 pitch in his last at-bat. Texas pitched to him and he went 6-for-13 with two RBI in three games.

--2B Ryan Raburn got a two-game weekend furlough in hopes his three straight hitless games wouldn't balloon into more. Raburn was pressing, manager Jim Leyland observed when he said he was not going to let Raburn hit against Seattle's top two pitchers, and RHP Michael Pineda and RHP Felix Hernandez. Raburn had a seven-game hitting streak prior to his latest slump.

--RF Magglio Ordonez returns to the Detroit roster Monday for the club's makeup game against Tampa Bay. GM Dave Dombrowski announced the club outrighted the contract of RHP Enrique Gonzalez to Toledo to make room for Ordonez's return from the disabled list. "His health has been fine," Dombrowski said. "He really continued to stay down there (at Toledo) himself to get his timing down. (Saturday) he went 3-for-5 and he hit a home run in his last two games. It's up to the skipper (manager Jim Leyland) whether he decides to play him or not." Ordonez batted .297 in his week of rehab games with two home runs and six RBI.

--RHP Enrique Gonzalez was outrighted to Toledo with the imminent return of RF Magglio Ordonez from the disabled list. Gonzalez had only pitched in three games in his second stint with the Tigers, allowing three runs in 3 2/3 innings. He was brought up May 22 to provide some veteran presence to a Detroit bullpen that was performing poorly. Rookie LHPs Charlie Furbush and Adam Wilk have both performed well out of the bullpen since being brought up from the minors and their spots are safe for now. Detroit had been playing short a position player since activating LHP Phil Coke from the disabled list five days ago.

BY THE NUMBERS
6/12/1979 -- Date Sparky Anderson was hired by the Tigers to replace Les Moss as their manager. The late Hall of Fame manager will have his No. 11 retired by Detroit in a ceremony on June 26.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I didn't know what I was going to see, but I know what I saw. I thought I was going to see something, but saw something else. Then I saw what I was looking for. So you can call this the old see-saw." -- Manager Jim Leyland, on what he detected looking at video for a flaw in RHP Max Scherzer's mechanics.

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