Leyland Makes Good Use Of His Bullpen

The smart thing to do sometimes is to go against conventional wisdom.

Jim Leyland chose to go against the grain more than a couple of times Tuesday to preserve Detroit's 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay, its fifth straight.

He announced after Monday night's win that he was going to give setup man Joaquin Benoit and closer Jose Valverde a night off after using each in two straight games.

He tried to squeeze an extra inning out of starter Brad Penny but called on Daniel Schlereth with one out and a man on in the seventh. Schlereth got one out but gave up a hit and a walk to load the bases, which brought in Ryan Perry to get the last out of the inning.

Leyland turned to Phil Coke in the eighth, and after a two-out double, Leyland ordered an intentional walk to put the potential go-ahead run on base in a 2-1 game. It worked as Coke got an inning-ending strikeout.

Then in the ninth, Leyland ordered up another intentional walk, to Evan Longoria, after another two-out double. That worked when Coke got Ben Zobrist to ground out to first to end the game. It was the 10th pitch of the at-bat.

The manager didn't want to use Coke, either, because he'd pitched two games in a row at Cleveland and thrown some pressure pitches.

So Leyland got away with not using his top back-end pitchers and with issuing intentional walks where many managers wouldn't.

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