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Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes 8-26-11

--CF Austin Jackson extended recent success getting runners home from third with less than two out and also hit a home run to account for both Detroit runs. Jackson led off the game with his seventh home run of the season. "Got myself in a good hitters count (2-0)," Jackson said, "got a good pitch to hit and got good wood on it." In the fifth he hit a sacrifice fly to right that made it 2-0, the final score. "It's just being patient in those situations," Jackson said, "slowing the game down and not trying to do too much. Just make contact." It was the sixth straight time Jackson had gotten a runner in from third with less than two out in a close game (three runs or less). Until this streak, Jackson had been 1-for-7 getting the runner home from third with less than two outs in close games.

--RHP Doug Fister retired the first 13 batters he faced and pitched the first seven innings of a 2-0 shutout at Tampa Bay. Fister mixed his pitches but had success starting hitters off with curveballs, most of them thrown for strikes to put himself in a position to work the strike zone. He gave up five hits, including two in the fifth and two in the seventh but was able to get the third out each time. Fister threw 99 pitches and didn't walk a batter, striking out five. Fister credited C Alex Avila's one-game replacement, C Omir Santos, with doing an excellent job. "(It helped) being able to communicate with Santos before the game, not having worked with him before," Fister said. "He caught a very good game. This lineup here in Detroit is known for hitting. My job here is get them back off the field, get them to hitting."

--C Alex Avila enjoyed his one game off -- and so did his teammates. "We were having a lot of fun with him, calling him Wally Avila," manager Jim Leyland said, making a reference to 1B Wally Pipp, the New York Yankees' first baseman who got hurt and lost his first base job to 1B Lou Gehrig. "He had a nice day off." Leyland was thinking of having Avila DH but decided against it when he was advised DH Victor Martinez should be kept off the field due to a sore left knee. "This was a very complicated thing," Leyland said. "There was a lot of thought on this. But I'm giving him the day off. I know he's hot -- I watch the games. But I need to give him a (break). Period. He needs a break. He's gonna catch the whole weekend (three-game series) in Minnesota. It's a day game after a night game. And I think he needs a day off." Avila had caught 18 straight games.

--RF Brennan Boesch may face two weeks on the disabled list after aggravating the right thumb sprain that kept him out of action for nearly a week earlier this month. He was removed from the game in the seventh inning Wednesday night after striking out three times and reporting pain shooting up his arm for the first time. UT Don Kelly replaced him in right. "I don't think it's every good," manager Jim Leyland said. "I don't want to paint a bleak picture, because I don't know, but I don't think it's too good. He obviously had to come out of the game because of the pain. That's not too good."

Boesch was just 6-for-24 (.250) with no RBI and five runs scored since first returning to the lineup. "I don't know about that," Leyland said when asked if Boesch was day-to-day. He may see a hand specialist so Detroit can get a handle on how much time he should miss.

--DH Victor Martinez was declared unable to play first base, which could have allowed manager Jim Leyland to keep C Alex Avila in the lineup as the designated hitter. Martinez was Detroit's DH. Avila got his first game off from catching since Martinez sprained his left knee Aug. 6, catching each of the previous 18 games. Leyland said he considered starting Martinez at first base and DHing Avila but the training staff advised against putting Martinez in the field. Leyland said he also briefly considered starting Avila at first but decided it was best to give him a complete day of rest. He will start Friday night at Minnesota.

--RF Ryan Raburn may see more action in right field with RF Brennan Boesch facing at least a few games off to get his sprained right thumb healed. Raburn had a double and scored a run as Boesch's replacement. He hit the ball sharply three times in four at-bats.

--RHP Jose Valverde notched his 38th straight save, thanks to a double play. It was the second time in a row it took a double play to keep Valverde's string of converted saves alive. Valverde gave up a one-out walk and a single that put runners on first and third as well as jeopardizing Detroit's 2-0 lead. But Tampa Bay started runner RF Matt Joyce and LF Sam Fuld hit a liner to right that was turned into a double play at first. In Valverde's last save, Sunday, it took a game-ending double play throw from CF Austin Jackson to C Alex Avila to nail down an 8-7 win.

--RHP Joaquin Benoit pitched a shutout inning in Detroit's blanking of Tampa Bay. Benoit entered to start the eighth and struck out three batters, the last two after giving up a one-out double. Benoit benefited from two games off after pitching in two straight and three of four.

--C Omir Santos, a one-game callup while 1B Miguel Cabrera is on paternity leave, relieved C Alex Avila of starting for the first time in 19 games. Santos went 0-for-3, failing to get down a sacrifice in a bunt situation, but he did get RF Ryan Raburn, who had doubled, over to third in the fifth so he could score on CF Austin Jackson's sacrifice fly. Santos returns to Toledo on Friday. Avila never got off the bench.

BY THE NUMBERS
6 -- Consecutive times CF Austin Jackson has driven in a runner from third base in a close game (three or less runs) with less than two outs after his fifth-inning sacrifice fly. Jackson had been 1-for-7 in those close-game situations prior to his streak.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"It was a little bit different lineup without Miggy (1B Miguel Cabrera) and Alex (C Avila). We knew we weren't going to get a lot of runs. (RHP Doug) Fister was tremendous. He just pitched a great game." -- Manager Jim Leyland commenting after a 2-0 win at Tampa Bay on his lineup, which was minus his No. 2 hitter (RF Brennan Boesch), cleanup man Cabrera (paternity leave) and Avila (sixth-place hitter).

Copyright (C) 2011 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.

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