Well, Doug Fister did his job and certainly deserved a better fate.
Too bad the rest of the Tigers weren't quite as effective, turning a victory into a 3-2 loss.
Everything the Tigers expected of Fister coming into the season was on display in Seattle Monday night.
Fister, who suffered a left costochondral strain in his first start of the season April 7 against Boston, delivered his typical start against the team that traded him to the Tigers at the trade deadline last year.
Fister allowed just four hits in seven innings, walking none and striking out three. He was his usual efficient self, throwing 73 pitches, 51 for strikes.
"I really felt good," Fister told FOX Sports Detroit's Mickey York on the post-game show. "There was a lot of progress made as far as my health and feeling, went out there and just tried to make pitches."
Fister left after seven innings with a 2-0 lead, courtesy of a Prince Fielder RBI double in the first inning and a Brennan Boesch RBI single in the fourth.
"You know what he does," Brendan Ryan told York on the field after the game. "It's no secret. He pounds the zone, he moves the ball around, he changes speeds and he goes after you. I think you saw a lot of early count swings and tough to find the barrel on him today. It's what he does. He's a competitor, like I said earlier. He's a good pitcher and he's going to do fine over there."
Phil Coke pitched a perfect eighth but everything fell apart in the ninth.
The Tigers already knew that they were not going to have set-up man Joaquin Benoit and closer Jose Valverde available. Benoit pitched Saturday and Sunday and Valverde pitched all three games against the Chicago White Sox over the weekend.
So they turned to veteran Octavio Dotel, who has closed games before in his career. Dotel was uncharacteristically wild, walking Ryan and Ichiro Suzuki. Ryan advanced to third and Suzuki to second on a wild pitch and then Ryan scored on a passed ball. Jesus Montero doubled to score Suzuki, tying the game.
"He's got good stuff, he just couldn't find the plate," Ryan told York on the field after the game. "I kind of put the bat in my back pocket and Ich kind of had to do the same thing, the situation just kind of unfolded. It all happened so fast."
Manager Jim Leyland brought in Duane Below, but Kyle Seager's sacrifice bunt moved the winning run to third base before John Jaso ended the game with a sacrifice fly.
"Octavio saved a lot of games in the big leagues," Leyland told York on the post-game show. "He's the most experienced guy. They had right, left, right and the left-hander they had, Ichiro was 1-for-11 off Dotel with five punchouts. We felt like it was set up the way we wanted it. Tonight we just didn't execute."
Dotel, who said he had everything working in the bullpen before coming into the game, felt bad about ruining Fister's night.
"It's really tough after Fister throws that type of game," Dotel told York. "We were three outs away for his first win in 2012. It's a tough one. It's hard to swallow but hey, we gotta move on and keep going."
Perhaps Dotel might have gotten a break if the Tigers hadn't left seven men on base, which has been a theme of late. They have scored three runs or fewer in 13 of their last 22 games.
Even when the Tigers hit the ball hard, it didn't work out. With runners on the corners and one out in the third, Miguel Cabrera hit a liner up the middle that hit starting pitcher Blake Beaven on the elbow. The ball ricocheted right to Seager at third base, who turned it into an inning-ending double play.
"We didn't really catch any breaks but you make your own," Leyland said. "Still had opportunities to drive in some runs, we didn't get it done. Miguel hit a bullet off the pitcher -- I hope he's all right, that was a rocket. But we're just not getting the big hits. We're scattering some hits, we're dunking some in and getting some line drives for hits but we're really not driving in runs and driving balls in the gaps."
Until the Tigers manage to put it all together -- starting pitching, hitting and relief pitching, they'll continue to hover at .500. At 14-14 they're now three games behind the Cleveland Indians (17-11), who swept a doubleheader from the White Sox Monday.
