Oct 13, 2011
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The Detroit Tigers now have their backs against the wall falling to the Texas Rangers 7-3 in 11 innings to fall behind 3-1 in the ALCS. Rain has played havoc with the teams in Texas and Detroit with rain delays forcing the managers to juggle their line-ups and change the pitching rotations.
The Tigers came back from Arlington down 2-0 in games after failing 3-2 in the first game that was delayed twice by rain and then dropping the second game in 11 innings 7-3 on a walk off Grand Slam.
Games 3 and 4 were to be played at Comerica Park in front of sold out crowds. Doug Fister would be the starter in Game 3 for the Tigers and manager Jim Leyland would look for him to go deep into the game. That's just what he did to give his team a boost. The game was played under warm autumn skies at 65 degrees at the start. Players who had been cold so far in the series started to heat up for the Tigers with centerfielder Austin Jackson leading the way with 3 hits.
Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Johnny Peralta all blasted solo home runs for the Tigers in a 5-2 victory. The bullpen also pulled through with Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde pitching strong in relief. Manager Jim Leyland who has been juggling his line-up based on who was healthly and who wasn't has made the right moves.
Game #4 would see 22 year old Rick Porcello start the game for Detroit. It was expected to get at least 5 good innings from him before going to the bullpen. Detroit jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a 2 hour and 13 minute rain delay for the afternoon game that now turned into a chilly night game. The rain came again in the 4th inning for about 15 minutes. Porcello ran into a little trouble in the 6th inning and gave up 3 runs to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. Brandon Inge tied the game in the 7th inning with a solo Home Run.
Both teams had their chances to score the winning run into the 11th inning but failed. Jose Valverde pitching his 2nd inning of relief finally ran into a buzz saw in the Ranger line-up. He would give up 4 runs in the top of the 11th for a 7-3 Ranger lead. The Tigers did generate any offense in the 11th to come out on the short end of Game #4 to now trail the Rangers 3 games to 1. However the only bright spot would be that Justin Verlander would start Game #5 on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park and give the Tigers a real chance to go back to Texas for a Game 6.
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