The Detroit Tigers have won nine of their last 10 games and sit atop the American League Central. That places them exactly where most people expected them to be as the calendar flips to July. They have not exactly gotten there the way we thought they would, however.
More from Detroit Tigers
- MLB standings ordered by hard hit rate: Struggling Cardinals still cracking bats
- MLB rumors: Justin Verlander buzz, Astros target All-Star, Reds-White Sox deal
- Tigers young star takes vicious shot at Royals pitcher over sticky stuff allegations
- Immaculate Grid baseball: Answers, connections, hints for Grid 105 (July 16)
- Immaculate Grid baseball: Answers, connections, hints for Grid 102 (July 13)
One of the facets of the Tigers’ season that has not gone as planned has been the struggles of starting pitcher Justin Verlander. Thankfully for the Tigers, Rick Porcello has stepped up to fill that void and then some.
Through 16 starts the 25-year-old Porcello has been stellar, even dominant at times. Dominant would be the word to describe how Porcello pitched on Tuesday night: he threw a complete game shutout, needing less than 100 pitches to lock down the best team in all of baseball in the Oakland Athletics.
It was Porcello’s 11th win on the season and it dropped his ERA to 3.12. This outing was the absolute definition of pitching to contact: Porcello issued no walks and struck out zero hitters. He surrendered just four hits, something that is truly astounding in a game in which he actually struck nobody out.
With this win the Tigers have won the series against the A’s and will go for the series sweep on Wednesday afternoon.
Check out some of the highlights from Porcello’s outing below, courtesy of MLB.com: