Detroit Tigers 0, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 3

Great pitching carried the Tigers through at least a few of the games on their now-defunct winning streak, but it was not enough to roll Detroit to a sixth-straight win.  Kenny Rogers pitched 7 strong innings, giving up 2 earned runs on 4 hits.  Jordan Tata turned in another solid inning of work, allowing no earned runs.

Angels pitcher Ervin Santana was simply dominant, pitching 6 scoreless innings and recording 10 strikeouts.  Further, the bullpen of the so-called Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim maintained its well-respected reputation by completing the shut-out Santana had started.

Tim Salmon led the way for the so-called Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim with a solo homerun and an RBI single; the only runs allowed by Tigers’ starter Kenny Rogers.

Though the Tigers have won four of their last five, the offense has struggled to produce runs; averaging just 2.8 runs per game and stranding 78 runners (Team LOB of 37) over the same span.  In order to maintain the pace that Detroit has set in this young season, they must find a way to get more of those runners across the plate.  For starters, I think a shake-up in the line-up and a day off for slumping first-baseman Chris Shelton are in order.

OTHER NOTES

Craig Monroe went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Monday night; his average has now sunk to .205.

The Detroit Free Press contacted me this week about MLBlogs.  By this time next week, I could be famous.

If you haven’t checked out MLB.com’s Gameday feature, it is a great way to experience the game when you’re unable to watch or listen to it; in fact, I will often keep Gameday on my screen when I’m watching or listening to the game.  Featuring pitch-location, hit-location and an in-game box score, Gameday brings you all of the action live: play by play and pitch by pitch.  I know this sounds like a commercial, but seriously, it’s probably better than any other site that you might be using and it’s offered free by MLB.com.
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COMING UP

Jeremy Bonderman (1-2, 5.55 ERA) will attempt to bounce back from a rough start as the Tigers take on the so-called Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the second game of this three game series.  Bonderman is poised to bounce back with a good outing and with the rest of the rotation around him performing as well as they are, I think his chances are pretty good.  Hector Carrasco (0-0, 4.38 ERA) will pitch for the Angels.  This game will not be televised; gametime is 10:05 PM EDT.