Mariners 3, Tigers 2
If any Mariners player has been in a slump it has been Jeff Clement. Batting .170 going into the night, Clement has been searching for that breakout game at the plate. That type of game that fans and players can finally say he has arrived. Tonight Clement arrived hitting two clutch homeruns to almost single handedly beat the Tigers. During a post game interview J.J. Putz gave the Rookie catcher a shaving cream pie to the face. Nothing says you have gained the respect of your teammates more than that.
Tonight the M’s needed a hot Clement bat because Armando Galarraga brought his A game the park. Galarraga pitched 6 strong innings and left the game with a 2-1 lead thanks to homeruns by Carlos Guillen and Miguel Cabrera. Galarraga only run allowed was a 5th inning solo shot by Clement to cut the lead in half.
Fernando Rodney took the mound in the 8th still holding on to the 2-1 lead. After recording an out, Rodney walked Richie Sexson who was then pinch ran for at first by Miguel Cairo. Cairo swiped second to move into scoring position for Clement. Clement with a 1-1 count, demolished an off speed pitch over the wall for his 4th homerun of the season to put the M’s up 3-2.
In the 9th, hand it to Brandon Morrow and leave happy right? Exactly. Morrow blanked the Tigers for a second straight game retiring Matt Joyce, Edgar Renteria, and Ivan Rodriguez in order. It was the 7th save in as many chances for Morrow as he lowered his ERA to 0.65.
Credit is due to the defense and pitching staff again for containing one of the more potent offensive teams in baseball. Starter R.A. Dickey was solid again going 6 innings, and did a good job working our of trouble with some location problems. Dickey’s signature knuckleball wasn’t dancing in his favor as he walked five batters. But left after the 6th with only two runs against. Miguel Batista pitched two solid innings of relief and ended up picking up the victory helping DIckey off the hook for the loss. Batista has had some time off because of his lingering back issues, but looked to be feeling a little better only allowing two hits against the meat of the order.
On defense, Jeremy Reed was all over the place in center field. Reed went crashing into the wall early on a Cabrera deep fly ball, and robbed a Renteria liner later. Raul Ibanez made a nice sliding catch in the 3rd, and had what turned out to be the biggest defensive play of the game as he threw out Dane Sardinha at the plate in the 5th.
The M’s will go for the series win sunday afternoon. It would mark their fourth straight series win. Ryan Rowland-Smith (2-1) will get the ball for the second time this week. He will be opposed by Nate Robertson (6-7). The game will start at 1:10 PT. Lets close em out!
