Boesch The Patient

Boesch looked at nine Phil Hughes deliveries before singling in tonight's second inning

In a laborious fourth, Hughes threw 41 pitches, 12 to Boesch who singled on the last one.

The second inning single scored no one, and Cabrera had already homered in the fourth. The ABs did run up Hughes' pitch count, and every pitch on a hot night means less fuel in the tank. 

Peralta doubled in Boesch to tie the game. In the fifth, Cabrera The Mighty doubled in two more off the depleted Hughes, and out he came. 

The add-on single runs runs added on by the Tigers in the sixth and eighth proved to be absolutely vital. Valverde the Unpredictablecame in to pitch the ninth and, with him lurking in the pen, the Tigers need all the add-on runs they can get.

The fans should know by now: don't stand up when Papa Shut 'Em Down is one out from a save. You might be standing for a while. Walk, single, double, 6-3 becomes 6-5 with the tying and go-ahead runs on third and second, respectively, and Curtis Granderson up. What is it with this guy? It's like watching Fernando Rodney pitch. 

The Grandy Man popped out to first, and all was right with the world. At least until tomorrow night. 

The 6-5 win, and the White Sox' loss in Chicago, draw the Tigers to within a half-game of Wonderfulness. 

BRENNAN BASH !!!

Boesch's two-run homer in the seventh broke a 5-5, and provided the eventual margin of victory. Final: Tigers 8, Angels 6.

That's more like it! Just for that, he gets his old blog name back.

Ben-Wah acquires a blog name, for now at least: "Boom Boom," for throwing a home run ball to Mark Trumbo leading off the next half inning. Three of the last five hitters BBB has faced, going back to the ugly loss in Baltimore, have homered.

Boesch's Night

He homered, and singled three times, drove in two and scored two -- and made a nice diving catch of a David DeJesus liner in the seventh -- as he the Tigers to an 8-4 win over les orsonceaux -- the bear cubs -- at Wrigley. 

He's 11 for 21 since the dropped-fly-ball game after which Tiger fans considered painting a target on his backside. In the process, he's raised his average to a respectable .252. If he keeps this up, your baseball blogger can start calling him Bash again.

Bash's Night, Furbush's Hold

6-3-5-5, reads the box score line that follows Brennan Boesch's name. Five hits, five RBIs, three runs.

Look below, in the extra base hits, and you'll find two homers; one with two on in the first, and a solo shot in the third. And a ribbie double in the sixth. His extra-base outburst powered the Tigers to an early 9-5 lead.

But the result may not have been W without Charlie Furbush's contribution.

When the Rangers looked like they wanted to get back in the game, he blanked them in the sixth and seventh. Nelson Cruz homered with one on in the eighth, but no damage was done and the Tigers prevailed 13-7.

Two runs in three innings drives the young southpaw's ERA all the way up to 1.84. Turned 25 on April 11, and haa added his name to the list -- with the Mets' Dillon Gee, the Braves' Craig Kimbrel, and the Royals' Aaron Crow -- of top rookie hurlers born in 1986.

-----------------------------------

Across the lake in Cleveland, the Indians may be hearing footprints.

They've dropped 10 of 13, including tonight's 6-4 loss to the Twins, who haven't lost since they left Detroit. And have been playing an uninspired brand of ball over that time. Their once fat lead is down to 2.5 games.