DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera has said it all along — the
Tigers are not just him, Prince Fielder and Justin Verlander.
For the Tigers to be successful, it's going to take everyone on the team.
Three of those others came through Sunday as the Tigers defeated the Pittsburgh
Pirates 4-3 to take two of three in the weekend interleague series.
Jhonny Peralta scored the Tigers' first run, a solo homer in the fifth inning
to tie the game at 1. He also reached base when hit by pitch, plus he walked
and scored in Detroit’s go-ahead, three-run seventh inning.
For the series, Peralta was 4-for-8 with the home run. After a slow start,
hitting just .236 in April, Peralta is batting .314 (16-for-51) in May.
Also coming to life is Delmon Young, who was 5-for-11 against the Pirates,
including an RBI single in the seventh that tied the game at 2.
"He's been good for the last three days," manager Jim Leyland said.
"I've been waiting for him, and these last three days, he's been good. I'm
just hoping we can keep that going.
"Because Delmon's too good a hitter, and he's a run producer. That's how I
look at Delmon Young. I don't look at Delmon Young as a home-run hitter. I look
at Delmon Young as a run producer that hits home runs sometimes ... a
line-drive hitter who hits home runs. That's when he's at his best. And that's
why we wanted him last year. He produces runs, when he's right."
Brennan Boesch did not have a hit Sunday, but he had a career-best 12-game
hitting streak coming into the game.
Finally, there's Alex Avila, who was the starting catcher for the American
League All-Stars last season. He came into the game batting just .218. He only
had one hit Sunday but it drove in two runs and proved to be the game winner in
the seventh. It also helped give Max Scherzer the victory.
"It was great," Avila said. "Makes up definitely for some of the
hard-hit balls right at guys, squeezing one through there and getting a big
hit. We've wasted a lot of good performances this year so far, so glad we
didn't waste that one."
Jackson update
Austin Jackson has been able to do a few more things since suffering a mild
abdominal strain Wednesday night, but he's still not ready to go yet.
"It's still sore," Jackson said. "I'm able to take some swings
in the cage off the tee and take some soft toss, but running didn't go as well
as I would have liked it to go. It's just still a couple days, I guess, from
getting that soreness out, where I'm able to get that full range of motion
freely."
Jackson remains hopeful that he'll be able to play at some point in the
upcoming three-game series in Cleveland, which starts Tuesday.
"That's what I'm hoping for, that's what we're shooting for right
now," Jackson said. "I think I'm
going to come in for a little bit (Monday) before we leave and do some
treatment on it and see how that goes. Then probably continue to do the same
thing in Cleveland, I would imagine, probably get there early and just see how
it goes."
Lots of fans
On Sunday, the Tigers had another sellout crowd of 39,971.
It brought the weekend total to 124,585, the largest three-game series
attendance this season.
No doubt the Tigers will surpass that mark when the New York Yankees come to
town in early June.
