Tigers-Twins: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

This one was as ugly as they come.

After Alexi Casilla tied the game with his second home run of the year in the top of the third inning, the much ballyhooed Tigers' offense took over.

Boof Bonser had, by far, his worst outing of the year and appears to be slipping further and further down the list of the rest of the Twins' young pitchers. A night after Kevin Slowey shut down the same hitters for no runs in six innings of work, Boof gave up nine runs (all earned), seven hits (three XBH), and two walks in just three innings of work.

The bullpen didn't fare much better, giving up another ten runs in five innings of work, but there were a few bright spots. Juan Rincon looked much better in his second inning of work, and from the sixth inning on the Tigers were kept quiet.

Hidden in the shock of a 19-run outburst was another tough outing for the offense. Nate Robertson is no one's definition of a shutdown pitcher, but he went 6 and 1/3 innings and gave up just three runs, two to Alexi Casilla.

The 5-6-7 hitters went a combined 0-10, Carlos Gomez went 0-5 on his own with three Ks and four left on base. The Twins managed nine baserunners against Robertson, but couldn't seem to push any across, though it hardly mattered given the Tigers' own offensive outburst.

A great win last night, a terrible loss tonight and a rubber match that on paper looks to be a blowout win for the Tigers, but may well tilt the Twins' way. Glen Perkins, fresh of off his best start of the year against the Rangers, looks to outduel the 2-7 Justin Verlander.

Dr. Verlander/ Mr. Hyde has thrown back-to-back solid outings after his terrible start, so he may be back to near Cy Young form, but talk of mechanical flaws means that another rough start is certainly possible.

The Good: Alexi Casilla: 1-4, R, 2RBI, HR. If Casilla can continue to hit, he'll likely stay with the big league team for the foreseeable future. With his two-run HR tonight, Casilla is now out-homering Mike Lamb, Adam Everett, Joe Mauer, Delmon Young, and Michael Cuddyer.

Matt Macri: 2-3, R, RBI, BB, SB. Macri made his first start at 3B count, adding the Twins' third and final run in the fourth. With all the injuries to the middle infield, he should get plenty of opportunities to take over for the (terrible) slumping Mike Lamb.

The Bad: Carlos Gomez: 0-5, 3K. As Gomez goes, so go the Twins. Why this is so isn't clear, but when Gomez has nights like this, the Twins find it very difficult to score runs. It isn't as though Gomez is the only one who scores; he's not even leading the team in runs, but he seems to set the tone for the rest of the hitters, which is a heavy weight to put on the 22 year-old lead-off hitter.

The Ugly: Boof Bonser: 3 IP, 7H, 9ER, 2BB, 2K. He threw just 48 pitches in his 3+ innings and taxed the bullpen. Boof may be slowly pitching his way out of the rotation, since Blackburn, Slowey, and Perkins have all looked better than he has in his last few starts. Scott Baker's return from the DL will force the issue, as will Fransisco Liriano's next few starts in AAA.