Spring of the Tigers: Galarraga, Willis Struggle Early In Tiger Loss

Dontrelle Willis made his 2009 debut for the Tigers on Friday, and the Toronto Blue Jays made him pay for his mistakes.

Willis allowed four runs, two of which were earned, while allowing three hits, a walk and hitting a batter before finally recording three outs.

Willis was pulled in the start of the fourth inning.

The Tigers lost to Toronto by a score of 6-4, again struggling off the mound, much like their opener.

Willis, pitching for the first time since the end of the 2008 season, fell right back into the form he was in last season.  In his final four appearances of 2008, Willis tallied 20 earned runs in his last 14 innings of work in 2008.

With all the talk about how good he looked in his bullpen sessions, the shaky Willis took the mound against the Blue Jays. But he was not alone.

Detroit starter Armando Galarraga also had an off day.  In his two innings of work Galarraga allowed a run, walking two Toronto batters and hitting another.

The Blue Jays opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first, when Adam Lind’s sacrifice single put the Blue Jays up 1-0.

The Tigers came right back in the second, when Timo Perez grounded out, scoring Mike Hessman to tie the game at 1-1.

In the bottom of the third, Kevin Millar reached base on an RBI double off of Dontrelle Willis, then scored on a Rod Barajas single. After the third it was the Blue Jays leading 3-1.

It was more of the same in the fourth.

Willis allowed three batters on before being pulled for Chris Lambert.  Aaron Hill drove in a run, and Alex Rios hit a sacrifice fly to extend the Toronto lead to 5-1 after four innings.

Fernando Rodney came on to pitch the sixth inning, giving up a one-out solo home run to Jason Lane, giving the Blue Jays a 6-1 lead.  Rodney gave up a run on a pair of hits and two walks in the one-run sixth.

The Tigers fought back, rallying for three runs in the seventh off of Brian Wolfe.  Donnie Kelly hit a solo home run, and Alex Avila added on a two-run single to leave the Tigers trailing 6-4 after seven innings of baseball.

The Toronto relievers then shut down the Tigers to win by two runs.

Dirk Hayhurst pitched one-hit ball, notching two strikeouts in a scoreless eighth inning. 

Brian Burres allowed one hit and struck out one, recording the save.

Brad Mills, a contender for one of the spots in the Blue Jay starting rotation, picked up the win by pitching one-hit ball, allowing no runs to score in two innings of work.

Juan Rincon and Scott Williamson each pitched a scoreless inning to close the game for the Tigers.

Gary Sheffield made his first appearance for the Tigers this spring, having sat out the first two games with a sore elbow suffered on Wednesday.  Sheffield went 1-for-2 with a walk in his debut.

Brandon Inge continued his wonderful start to the spring as he went 1 for 2 with a double.  Inge is now hitting .750 this spring.

The Tigers (1-2) will next take on the New York Mets, with Brandon Lyon scheduled to pitch after starter Jonathan Kibler.

Lyon was shaky in his first appearance of spring training, giving up three runs in only an inning of work.  The Blue Jays (2-1) take on the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.

Jeremy Bonderman will pitch a simulated game in his bullpen session on Saturday.  Bonderman has yet to appear this year for the Tigers.