Tigers vs. Orioles: Game 1 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2014 MLB Playoffs

In a battle of staff aces, most thought Game 1 between the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles would be as close to a pitcher's duel as this series got. Instead the victor turned out to be the one who got out of Dodge just in time, as Baltimore held home-field advantage with a 12-3 win Thursday night.

Chris Tillman battled through his five innings of work to give up only two runs, while the Orioles lineup got to Max Scherzer for five and lit up the Detroit bullpen late.

The first seven innings played out like a grind-it-out playoff contest, with Tillman and Scherzer battling through troubles to give their team a chance to win. Nelson Cruz took Scherzer deep for a two-run shot in the bottom of the first, only for Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez to go back-to-back and tie the score in the top of the second.

When Nick Markakis drove in Ryan Flaherty with an RBI single in the bottom half, it looked as if we were headed for a see-saw game dominated by the bats. Slowly but surely, though, both aces settled down well enough for a (very temporary) chill to be put on the lineups.

Tillman, grinding his way through long at-bat after long at-bat, sat the batters down in order in the third and fourth innings before running into trouble again in the fifth. With two outs, Andrew Romine and Rajai Davis both singled and Ian Kinsler drew a walk after a 10-pitch at-bat, loading the bases for Torii Hunter.

With his pitch count exceeding 100, Tillman located well in a seven-pitch at-bat that ended with Hunter meekly grounding to third base.

It's been a similar refrain all season for Tillman, who went 13-6 with a 3.34 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. The righty 12 times during the regular season failed to go six innings in a start, each time relying on his defense and the Orioles' bats to pick up the slack.

"You take it for what it's worth," Tillman told reporters before the game. "My job is the same. You've got to be a little bit better. You've got to limit the damage. Every time you have the opportunity to make good pitches, make your defense work, and they've done that all year, and they'll continue to do that."

Tillman's expected fielder independent pitching (xFIP) was nearly a full run higher than his ERA, no doubt a testament to the Orioles' sterling defense. Baltimore was baseball's third-best team in terms of defensive runs saved, per FanGraphs. It did the same Thursday, cleanly fielding the ball and getting to others that most teams wouldn't.

Tillman left the game after five innings having struck out six and given up four hits. He threw 73 of his 105 pitches for strikes.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

While forced in part by the pitch count, Buck Showalter's decision to take Tillman out proved a contrast to Tigers skipper Brad Ausmus, who may have stuck with his guy too long. Or not long enough. It'll depend on whom you ask.

Scherzer mowed through the Orioles lineup quickly when locating, but Game 1 was defined by the times when he wasn't. Cruz's home run came on a hanging first pitch that he drove over the right-center field wall with room to spare. While he settled down after the Markakis RBI, facing the minimum batters from the third through the sixth innings (Steve Pearce had a single but was thrown out heading to second), Scherzer served up his second big mistake to J.J. Hardy in the seventh.

The Orioles shortstop sent a 1-1 pitch 403 feet to left center for his first career postseason home run. Scherzer immediately settled to strike out the next three batters, but the Orioles were far from done providing insurance. A one-out double by Alejandro De Aza in the eighth inning finally forced Ausmus to pull Scherzer and helped open the floodgates to an eight-run inning.

Cruz drove Adam Jones in to earn his third RBI, Flaherty plated Cruz three batters later and Jonathan Schoop contributed a two-run double. De Aza eventually capped off the scoring with a two-run double of his own, scoring Schoop and Markakis. The Tigers bullpen gave up seven runs in only two-thirds of an inning of work.

"A team that swings the bat like that, they're dangerous," Scherzer said before the game, per Adam Berry of MLB.com.

Unlike the Baltimore staff, Detroit's pitchers were done no favors by their surrounding talent. A Romine error in the eighth put Jones on base, and a wild throw from Davis in center field helped set up a bases-loaded situation for Flaherty.

The fielding gaffes came a half inning after a baserunning (or managerial) gaffe that arguably changed the course of the game. After reaching on an infield single in the top of the eighth, Kinsler attempted to steal second base with Hunter at the plate—seemingly a hit-and-run attempt. Hunter lined out to shortstop, Kinsler got doubled off at first and Miguel Cabrera's ensuing home run that would have tied the game 4-4 instead was a towering solo shot. 

Zach Britton came in and got the Orioles out of the eighth, ceding the game to Tommy Hunter for the ninth after it got out of hand. The Baltimore bullpen has been lights out all season for Showalter, atoning for the occasional shortcomings of the rotation.

The Orioles will hope Wei-Yin Chen can keep the bullpen use to a minimum Friday. The lefty has not thrown a complete game in any of his 86 MLB starts. He went more than seven innings only three times this season, though it'll be interesting to see if Showalter gives him a longer leash to save the pen.

The Tigers will be foisting their hopes on Justin Verlander, a sentence that sounds better in theory than the numbers indicate. Verlander went 15-12 with a 4.54 ERA during the regular season, the first time since 2008 he'd topped the 4.00 mark. His poor performance had many questioning Ausmus' decision to not only keep him in the rotation but start him for Game 2 over David Price, Detroit's big midseason acquisition.

After the way his decisions went Thursday, Ausmus will have to hope his faith in Verlander is well warranted. Otherwise the American League's most talented team on paper might be on the brink of elimination.

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