Not too much went right for the Detroit Tigers this afternoon.
They dropped their second straight game to the division rival Chicago White Sox, who take the series by a 2-1 mark thanks to their 10-2 victory at Comerica Park. Chicago got to starter Tarik Skubal early, as Tim Anderson doubled on the first pitch he faced. Skubal would ultimately last four innings, surrendering seven hits and five runs.
“It looked like kind of like a funky pitch usage,” said manager A.J. Hinch of Skubal's outing. “A lot of changeups, not many breaking balls. He had to work inning after inning, not being able to complete at-bats against a good offense.”
“He’s a good hitter,” Skubal said of Anderson. “From my standpoint, he’s going to get himself out. You just have to make quality pitches. And the pitches that he hit today off me weren’t quality.”
Of course, this was Anderson's first game of the season, as he was serving a suspension dating back to last season for making contact with an umpire on Sept. 27. And the Tigers will need to prepare to see him on plenty more occasions this summer.
“19 games give him a lot of opportunity, he's going to play a lot of games against us,” Hinch said of Anderson. “But yeah it's something about him against the whole league, it's not just us, he's an All Star caliber player against everybody in the League.”
Meanwhile, Detroit's offense, which only managed two hits on the afternoon, scored only when Miguel Cabrera drew a walk and scored on a Victor Reyes triple.
The Tigers will look to rebound when they bring in the Boston Red Sox to the Motor City for a three-game set beginning tomorrow. It will be Matt Manning on the mound in the series opener, his first start of the season.
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– – Quotes via Cody Stavenhagen Link – –
