Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes 7-28-11

--CF Austin Jackson provided Detroit with its lone run Wednesday, hitting his fifth home run of the season in the seventh inning. Jackson took a 3-2 fastball and drove it into the seats in left center. He's doing a better job of taking pitches but hasn't been able to translate that into more bases on balls once he reaches a three-ball count. He struck out on a 3-2 curve in the first inning, singled on a 3-1 pitch in the fourth and hit his home run in the seventh.

--RHP Max Scherzer gave up White Sox CF Alejandro de Aza's first major league home run, and it cost him a loss. The two-run shot to right in the second inning came off a hanging off-speed pitch gave Chicago a 2-1 win. Manager Jim Leyland let Scherzer pitch the sixth even though his pitch count was above 100. "He was a little bit wild, but that might have been one of the things that made him a little effective, too," Leyland said. "He did a great job, finished strong, and his last inning was tremendous."

Scherzer walked four after walking just one in his previous three starts combined. Scherzer was celebrating his 27th birthday.

--LHP Phil Coke pitched two scoreless innings of relief to finish up RHP Max Scherzer's outing for Detroit. Coke worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh thanks to a throw-out at the plate by LF Ryan Raburn on a flyball to left. Coke has done well since returning to the bullpen, allowing one earned run in 7 2/3 innings spread over seven games. His fastball routinely runs to 94-95 mph, and his breaking ball has been very good.

--LF Ryan Raburn is giving manager Jim Leyland reasons to get him into the lineup since he lost his second base job when 2B Carlos Guillen returned to the roster. Raburn made a fine play on a fly ball to left, turning it into a double play to end the seventh by throwing out LF Juan Pierre at the plate. He has hit close to .300 this month, his third straight season of getting hot the second half of the year. Leyland has played him in left as well as at second and third recently.

--C Alex Avila caught all three games in Chicago, and he may find himself behind the plate for all four games against the Angels. Avila singled twice in the third game against the White Sox after getting two singles in the opener. Manager Jim Leyland likes having Avila behind the plate against teams that run, so that could mean he'll catch against the Angels. Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia has nearly all of his players on the move when they get on base.

--PH Brennan Boesch was sent to the plate for CF Austin Jackson with two outs in the ninth inning by manager Jim Leyland in the hopes maybe he could tie a game in which Detroit trailed by a run. Boesch faced a barrage of sliders by White Sox RHP Sergio Santos and flied out to right on a 3-2 pitch to end the game. Boesch is a low-ball hitter, and he went down after a slider just off his ankles and nearly reached the warning track with the flyball.

BY THE NUMBERS
3 -- Extra-base hits by Detroit during three games at Chicago. The Tigers collected 26 singles, two home runs and a double off White Sox pitching. Detroit got one extra-base hit in each game.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"We're not even in August yet. You can look at it a lot of ways. We went to Minnesota and Chicago and came home 4-3. I look at it like that's pretty good. Yeah, would you like to take two out of three? Absolutely, but we did OK. We're kind of plugging along, and we're doing OK." -- Manager Jim Leyland, after Detroit lost two of three at Chicago after taking three of four in Minnesota.

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