Tigers-Royals: Rick Porcello—Seriously, He's Only 20

Game Summary

• Final Score: Detroit 8  Kansas City 3
• WP: Rick Porcello (6-3): 6 innings, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 ER, 4 K, 82 pitches
• LP: Kyle Davies (2-4): 5.2 innings, 10 H, 2 BB, 5 ER, 1 K
• HR: Mark Teahen (6), Miguel Cabrera (10), Placido Polanco (1)

Rick Porcello needed 26 pitches to get through the first inning and 56 to get through the next five innings.  When I saw Porcello struggle through a first inning in which he gave up a run I thought it was going to be a bad afternoon.  Usually the only sorts of guys that can bounce back from awful first innings are ace-type pitchers.  Roy Halladay comes to mind.

However, Porcello was able to right the ship and win his fifth consecutive start.  The Tigers' 1-2-3 punch of Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello is easily one of the best in all of baseball.  It’s just so unreal that Porcello can be this good and this poised at such a young age.

The bullpen was shaky but the Tigers still walked away with an 8-3 and a four-game lead over the Royals in the AL Central.

The offense knocked around Kyle Davies and picked up 12 more hits today, led by Josh Anderson.

The Tigers upped their record to 26-19 and will play tomorrow night in Baltimore.

• Good: Josh Anderson led the Tigers offense today.  Anderson slid into that lead off spot as Curtis Granderson hit fifth.  Anderson responded with four hits a run, a run batted in, and his 10th steal of the season.
• Good: Placido Polanco hit his first home run of the season and went 2-5 with three RBI.  With Anderson in front of him, he had no shortage of RBI opportunities.
• Bad: The bullpen just is not having many easy innings.  Bobby Seay was charged with an earned run when he allowed a Mark Teahen single in the second.  Teahen would later score when Joel Zumaya allowed a walk and a single to the first two batters he faced.  Fernando Rodney struck out the side in the ninth inning, but he also allowed a couple of hits.
• Good: Miguel Cabrera is from another planet.  Cabrera went 1-4 today but his one hit was a massive home run off of Royals starter Kyle Davies.  He’s just a freak of nature.
• Good: Curtis Granderson singled and worked a couple of walks.  I’m guessing that he and Anderson’s strong days today keep them in their respective spots in the lineup tomorrow against the Orioles.  Nice to see Curtis have a nice day at the plate.