Tigers, Avila blast their way to series win vs. Kansas City

The Tigers and royals have played three series against one another since the all star break in mid July.  Most of the games have been tightly contested, with one play here or there throughout the game being the deciding factor.  Kansas City held a 5-4 advantage leading up to the three game set at Comerica Park.  Let's break down the action:

Game 1: Tigers 6, Royals 3.
Justin Verlander was solid, the Detroit offense got started early and the Tigers held on late for the win.  Austin Jackson doubled to lead off the game and advanced to third on an error, allowing him to score on a chopper to short by Torii hunter.  Part of the risk you run when attempting to steal a base is taking a run off the board.  Emilio Bonifacio singled to left to lead off the 4th inning, then was thrown out as Verlander quick pitched, preventing Bonifacio from getting a great jump and Avila threw him out at second.  From there, the Royals got infield singles from Hosmer and a single off the wall from Perez, which should have given them the lead, instead of just tying the game.  The Tiger's big bats got going Cabrera doubled to deep right center then Fielder homered in the 3rd to give the Tigers and Verlander a bit of a working margin, as Prince picked up RBI's 100 and 101.  Again the Royals had a base runner in the 5th erased as Verlander picked off Dyson at first after he reached on a bunt single.  Following an Avila walk and Jackson's second double of the game, Torri Hunter drove in the pair, then proceeded to attempt to steal third, drawing a balk from the Royals starter Bruce Chen. There were some good moments from the Tigers bullpen as Smyly struck out Gordon to end a threat in the 7th.  There were some dicey moments as well, in the 8th after Smyly and Veras gave up back to back walks and Veras hit Moustakas to load the bases, but Leyland brought in Benoit to close the door as he converted the four out save.  Verlander had his curve working most of the night and he felt good about it, telling the AP that he "made a little bit of an adjustment with the grip on my curveball and that seemed to be working really well for me." He was inconsistent spotting the fastball at times but during his past two starts, his "stuff" has looked more vintage Verlander.

Game 2: Royals 1, Tigers 0.
Pitching and defense ruled the night as the Royals gunned down Prince Fielder at the plate, trying to score from first on Infante's double down the left field line, with two outs in the bottom of the 9th to preserve the win.  Leyland clearly told reporters after the game that "I don't (pinch)run for Prince Fielder, not at all."  That's his philosophy, sometimes it will backfire.  But yet again, another Tigers runner was thrown out at home and Leyland again backed his third base coach.  While Fielder isn't a speed demon, he's fast enough moving base to base but that's only a 30 yard sprint.  From first to home is 90 yards.  When I imagine Prince running 90 yards, I can see the first 30 yards as being pretty decent, slowing down around the 50 yard mark and being quite winded by the time he gets to 75 yards.  To me it was clear that he was running out of gas as he rounded third, around that 70 yard thresh hold.  I understand you want to make the defense make a perfect relay, but if you hold the runners in that situation, you have Brayan Pena at the plate with a chance to hit a single for the win, after Holland just walked Prince and gave up a double to Infante.  Pena is batting .304 this year and .264 with runners in scoring position with 2 outs.  Do the Royals execute that relay more then 1/4 times? Probably.  Had there not been as many poor decisions to send runners this year, and had it not been the last out of the game, this decision isn't as magnified.  The tigers had other chances to score throughout the evening but were limited by the Royals defense.  Alcides Escobar stood out, making a couple great plays to throw Tigers out deep in the hole at short.  Cabrera missed a couple opportunities to drive in runs as he blasted a ball to the bottom of the wall that was caught by Gordon that I and most thought was going out off his bat.  He also failed to drive in Hunter in the 8th after Torii doubled off Luke Hochevar.  The Tigers also had a few defensive gems of their own.  Cabrera threw Hosmer out at the plate in the first and Torii hunter made an electrifying throw to third as Getz tried to tag and advance in the 7th.  Fister was strong, allowing eight hits in 7 and 2/3 as the hard luck loser. Santana, and his wicked slider had 5 strike outs in 6 and 2/3 innings but it felt more like 10.  This game had the intensity of a playoff game as the two teams talent executed a lot of baseball fundamentals. 

Game 3: Tigers 3, Royals 2.
Game three of this series picked up right where games one and two left off.  A walk issued by Scherzer was erased as Bonifacio was picked off for the second consecutive game in the bottom of the first inning.  After the royals failed to turn a double play because of a bobble by their shortstop Alcides Escobar, Alex Avila hit a two run home run, instead of a solo shot, in the 2nd inning to stake the Tigers an early lead.  Max Scherzer's fourth attempt to obtain win number twenty on the year looked promising as the Tigers had eight hits through the first three innings and seemed to be on pace to knock Jeremy Guthrie out of the game early.  Scherzer definitely deserved to be the winning pitcher, striking out 12 in 7 innings, including a stretch of recording out 9 of 10 outs via strikeout.  However, the Tigers offense cooled off in the middle innings as Guthrie adjusted to pitching the Tigers inside more, rather then just going away, away, away.  Max really only made one mistake, grooving a fastball middle-in to Alex Gordon in the 4th, who turned on it and it was a no doubter.  The Tigers held the 2-1 lead into the 8th as Max gave the ball to Drew Smyly.  Smyly gave up a lead off double to Escobar, who proceeded to steal third as Dyson was striking out for the second out of the inning.  With the lefty Hosmer up, Smyly bounced a pitch into Avila's chest protector and the ball deflected behind Hosmer.  Avila attempted to retrieve the loose ball as Escobar broke for home but Hosmer was in the way and Avila plowed into him, unable to reach the baseball as Escobar easily crossed home plate to tie the ball game and preventing Scherzer from picking up the victory.  Leyland came out to argue for interference to no avail.  Justice was served as Avila broke the 2-2 tie in the bottom of the 8th, hitting his second home run of the game to deep right center.  Benoit pitched a 1-2-3 9th for his 20th save.

For the better part of the season, Kansas City's running game seemed cause the Tigers headaches, averaging over a stolen base per game, but the Tigers were able to win two of three in large part due to the starters' ability to limit the damage done on the base paths by the Royals.  All three starters had a pick off and Avila threw out Bonifacio in game one thanks to Verlander getting the ball home in a hurry.  Both offenses had a tough time coming up with the big hit in this series, the tigers were 3 for 20 as a team with runners in scoring position in the three games, the royals just 2 for 19.  The two teams were very evenly matched all year, as 10 of there 21 games were decided by just one run, the Royals won the season series 11-10.  If you take the Tigers 16 run outburst in Kansas City last week out of the equation, in the other 20 games combined, the Royals out scored the Tigers by 1 run.  The Royals might not have enough to make it to the post season this year but they have a bright future and should be battling the Tigers for the AL Central crown next year.  The Tigers meanwhile bring their magic number to 9, and sit two games behind the A's for home field advantage as the Seattle Mariners come to town for a four game set.

Series Notes:

• Billy Butler continued to own Justin Verlander.  He was 2 for 3 off of JV, 0 for 8 the rest of the series.
• Bonifacio was ejected after throwing his helmet after being picked off by Fister in game two.
• The Tigers beat out three double plays with good hustle down the line this series.
• Miguel Carbrera looked as healthy at the plate as he has in weeks, driving a number of balls the way he was before the injury. 
• Donnie Joseph was impressive out of the KC bullpen in game one, striking out the side in the 8th. 
• The teams combined for four bunt singles in the series.
• Leyland pinch hit Castellanos for Avila with the game on the line, two men in scoring position in the bottom of the 7th in game two.  Castellanos proceeded to pop out.
• Alburqurque pitched a nice 1-2-3 inning in game two, his second consecutive solid inning in reilf.
• Tigers starters are closing in on the all time strike out record for a rotation in the American Leauge.  They are 63 away with 13 games to go.  They have fallen off thecomplete staff record for the season though.  They would need nealry 10 strike outs per game over the final 13.