A pitchers duel kept most of last night’s Royals-Tigers game scoreless, but then Kansas City’s Betancourt scored a run in the seventh on a hit by Getz. -Kansas City Star
Oh Tigers, why do you torment me so? I guess I shouldn't be so upset, since I was almost completely resigned to the boys losing when Cabrera was up in the top of 9, down 1-0, with 2 outs and 2 strikes (and because it's only the second game of the season). But I kept hope alive, I prayed that Cabrera (who fought off 10 pitches) would reach back and clock one... And he did. Hallelujah! Yes, it was off the foul pole and yes, it only tied it, but the way Soria was pitching, it felt like we had broken the back of the Royals. They brought in Tejada, who we smoked two days ago and things we're looking good in the 10th with men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. But then we failed to convert... Ugh. 11th inning, we step up, Guillen has a RBI single, we make some bad base running decisions, but still we made Farnsworth look like an ass and went into the bottom of the 11th with a lead. Valverde pitched admirably, but he missed a 2-2 pitch to Callaspo outside by inches, so he had to throw some cheese over the plate and Callaspo converted it. And then, Sizemore the rookie, bobbled a relay throw on Ankiel's double and then all you could really say is "We'll try harder next time." It sucks to see this happen to Valverde, especially when the Tigers didn't lose on even one save opportunity last year (Rodney went 37-for-38 in save chances, and his lone blown save opportunity still ended up a Tigers win). But what can you do? I'm going to chalk this one up to it being early in the season, having a rookie second baseman, and a pitcher's duel that prevented the Tigs from really ever getting going. Scherzer looked awesome last night, going 6 innings of 1 hit! ball with 3 strike outs. KC's pitching was equally impressive for the second straight night though, with Hochevar going 7 and 2/3 with no earned runs.
After the game, Damon put it best, saying "Anytime you lose a game, it's tough, especially when we knew there wasn't much offense going on today. They were able to get two in the bottom half of the 11th. That's what makes it tough. But we have 160 more, and we have another one tomorrow, so hopefully we'll bounce back." At least we have some veteran leadership going for us.
Plus, Valverde's confidence hasn't been shaken. If anything, a loss could spur him on to an even better season. Dude won't lets this happen again. “I can do maybe 74 saves,” Valverde said. “This is a good team here. I know I can do more than 50 saves with this club." Here's to hoping.
Doug Benc/ Getty ImagesNext Up: Tigers @ KC 2:10 pm ET, Willis v. Bannister, FS-D
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