Martinez Can't Make Rangers Pay For Walk

One of the reasons Detroit signed Victor Martinez as a free agent this winter was to provide a measure of protection for Miguel Cabrera.

It was a very small measure in Detroit's 2-0 loss to Texas.

Manager Ron Washington did something in the ninth inning that flew against the stream of conventional baseball wisdom on a very windy day at Comerica Park.

He intentionally walked the tying run, Cabrera, with two out and a man on second in the ninth inning.

That brought up Martinez, who promptly grounded the first pitch he saw from Neftali Feliz to second to end the game.

Martinez got a hit the only time he faced Feliz last season.

The second-guessers would have had a field day had Cabrera hit a home run to tie the score, of course, after Ryan Raburn created the situation with a two-out double.

The intentional walk of Cabrera was a regular feature of Detroit games last season as injuries and a poor second half took the Tigers out of contention. Manager Jim Leyland tried a mish-mash of players hitting fifth but none was up to the task as Cabrera was walked intentionally 32 times last season to come close to the league record set by Ted Williams when he was 38 years old.

One thing is sure: Martinez will get more opportunities to show whether the Tigers were right or wrong to bring him to Detroit to back up Cabrera.

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