Ian Snell upstaged Justin Verlander in an unexpected turn of events
On a night where Justin Verlander dominated yet again, he took his 7th loss of the year. The Tigers have a funny way of making extremely marginal pitchers look like staff aces and it was Ian Snell’s turn tonight. Seattle snuck out a 3-1 win in a game where Detroit clearly had the pitching advantage going in. Verlander allowed 3 runs in the 5th, including a 2-run shot to right by Mr. Suzuki, his 8th of the year. That’s all Snell and the pen would need to get by a weak Tiger hitting attack.
Justin Verlander continued to build his Cy Young resume despite the loss. He went 8 innings, gave up just 6 hits and a walk and struck out 10. Had the Tigers mustered enough offense it would have looked like another masterpiece but it wasn’t to be on this night. His record falls to 13-7. The 10 K’s run his AL lead to 204 on the year, far surpassing his previous career high of 183.
Ian Snell managed to last 5.2 innings, only allowing a solo home run to Carlos Guillen, his 5th of the year. Snell allowed 4 hits and 3 walks to go along with just 2 K’s. His season ERA drops to 5.60 with tonight’s effort. The nice relief trio of Sean White, Mark Lowe, and David Aardsma closed out the last 3.1 innings for the M’s to ensure the win. The save is Aardsma’s 28th.
The unhittable force out of the Tigers pen that has become Brandon Lyon pitched yet another scoreless inning in the 9th. His ERA now sits at a puny 2.84 for the season. His return to prominence after the first 2 months of struggles has been truly remarkable.
The loss means the Tigers (63-56) lose a game in the standings to the victorious White Sox. Chicago was able to get by Zack Greinke and the Royals by hitting 3 solo homers against Greinke this afternoon. The Tigers hold on the AL Central lead shrinks to 2 games. Seattle climbs to 62-58 with the win and still hold remote hopes of jumping into the AL West race that the Angels are currently running away with. Seattle is 12 games back of the Angels.
Tomorrow’s rubber match is set for a 1:05 eastern first pitch. Jarrod Washburn will take on his former team and will go toe-to-toe with Ryan Rowland-Smith. Join the Detroit Tigers Sound Off page for some in-game interaction with other Tigers fans.
About Joe White