DETROIT -- Remember that Detroit Tigers team that was supposed to be so great and run away with the AL Central?
That team seemed to take a little hiatus, losing eight of their last 10 games and going 1-6 on the last home stand.
But the team that fans had hoped to see reemerged Tuesday night, pounding the Kansas City Royals 9-3, with good starting pitching and even good defense.
The offense came out swinging, scoring five runs off of Royals starter Luke Hochevar in the first inning. The first seven batters reached base, and after four innings, the Tigers were up 9-0.
"We hit the ball pretty good, that's what happened," said Andy Dirks, who had two of the team's 14 hits. "We did what we needed to do to score runs tonight.
"When you score multiple runs in the first inning it kind of takes a little bit of the stress and the pressure off an offense, for sure. Then guys can just get up there and be relaxed and hit the ball."
The run support certainly didn't hurt Rick Porcello, who used a little advice from pitching coach Jeff Jones to allow just three runs on seven hits while striking out three in a season-long eight innings of work.
"My biggest problem has been my tempo, getting out too quick and leaving pitches up in the zone," Porcello said. "We tried going over the head to slow everything down and I think it helped me be able to locate my off-speed stuff especially."
In his two previous starts, Porcello had allowed 13 earned runs.
"Jonesy’s done a terrific job with the staff," manager Jim Leyland said about the pitching coach. "He’s not afraid to see something, try something. He’s not afraid to experiment a little bit.
"He tweaked Porcello a little bit, going over his head with the windup, and it worked. Ricky really needed that. The club really needed it."
Before the season, there was a lot of concern about the Tigers' defense, especially with a ground-ball pitcher like Porcello. But with Porcello at a good pace, the defense got involved early and made some excellent plays.
Don Kelly had a couple in left field, Jhonny Peralta went deep in the hole at short on another, Miguel Cabrera started a double play and Prince Fielder had a good pick in the dirt.
Porcello was especially impressed with Kelly's second-inning catch of Mike Moustakas' ball that was tailing away.
"It was a heck of a play," Porcello said. "I didn't think he had any chance of catching that one that Moustakas hit and he got to it. He made some great plays out there, really helped me out a lot."
Leyland often talks about getting all the "combinations" going and that's precisely what he saw from his team Tuesday.
"The key to me tonight was pitching and defense," Leyland said. "I mean, we got some really nice hitting tonight, don’t get me wrong, but to me, the key was pitching and defense.
"Porcello was around the plate, making them put the ball in play, guys were diving all over the field making plays — Kelly made a couple great plays. We looked good.
"Tonight we looked like a good club, because we had all those combinations going for us."
Was it just coincidence that the Tigers put it all together with Victor Martinez in the house? Maybe yes, maybe no.
"Victor was in the dugout, and I really enjoyed that," Leyland said. "He was down with the guys, and it seemed like old times. I thought that was good tonic for us, and we got a pretty good jump-start tonight."
Porcello agreed, saying, "He's upbeat, he keeps everybody focused and energized. Having him here tonight was kind of like revisiting last year, our offense broke out. Having him down there was nice.
"It's always great to see him. Glad he was here."
Martinez had the celebratory music playing in the clubhouse after the game, including his walk-up song from last year, Pitbull's "Give Me Everything."
The Tigers took a cue from Martinez and did give him everything he hoped to see from his spot on the bench as the team's "biggest cheerleader."
"Victor, he's a great guy and a great teammate," Dirks said. "It means a lot for him to be around the clubhouse. He's kind of been our emotional support throughout all last year and now he brought it again today and we put up nine runs. That's pretty good."
Notes:
- Leyland earned his 1,600th career victory, passing Tommy Lasorda and moving into sole possession of 17th place on the all-time list.
- Dirks, who left the game in the fourth inning with left hamstring tightness and is listed as day-to-day, said he doesn't think he'll miss extended time.
"It was just tight and I think the cold weather maybe had something to do with it, too," Dirks said. "As the game went on, I was trying to stay loose and it kept getting tighter and tighter. But I didn't re-pull it.
"It was just sore and tight and I think they kind of, precautionary, don't want me to re-injure it. But I could feel it a little bit."
Dirks said he'd see how the hamstring felt Wednesday morning.
