Scorecard - 07APR10 - Tigers V Royals

There was wind and rain, and the temps were in the low 40s last night, sounds like April baseball in KC to me. The weather didn't seem to have any effect on the pitching of Luke Hochevar or Max Scherzer however. Both pitchers were throwing some heat, and marching through the innings at a pretty good clip. Scherzer went six scoreless innings for the Tigers, and Hochevar went 7 2/3rds for the Royals. Hochevar left the game in the top of the 8th inning with a 1-0 lead thanks to Chris Getz batting in Yuniesky Betancourt after he singled off of Fu-Te Ni in the bottom of the 7th. Things were looking good for the Royals, Joakim Soria was coming in to work a 4 out save, everyone would be out of the cold soon, and the Royals would have their first win of the 2010 campaign. Maybe.

Soria was looking like the flamethrower we have come to love in KC, for the first three batters he faced. Austin Jackson struck out in the top of the 8th, Johnny Damon and Magglio Ordonez went in order right behind him. Three batters faced, three batters out, Soria is looking good. Then Miguel Cabrera came up to bat, fought off pitch after pitch, and after 10 pitches slapped a home run off the foul pole in right field, tie game. Uh oh. After getting the third out and heading to the dugout Soria showed more emotion than I think I've ever seen. It wasn't a pretty sight.

To extra innings we go, the 10th goes fairly uneventfully, and then we get to the 11th. At this point I'm beginning to wonder if this game is ever going to end since we hadn't really seen much offense in the game. Kyle Farnsworth comes into the game in the top of the 11th and bang, bang, bang, 3 singles and run scored. What the..? !? Seems like typical Farnsworth again. Jose Valverde comes in to close out the game in the bottom of the 11th, and gives up a homerun to Alberto Callaspo, then a single to Billy Butler. Maybe we can win this. Rick Ankiel comes up, hits a double to deep right field, and pinch runner Willie Bloomquist makes it home on an error by Grady Sizemore. Game over, finally.

I am going to attempt to not be negative in these posts, but with the way this bullpen has performed the past two games, that might not last much longer, that's all I've got say on that for right now. Bullpen, you have been warned.

Now, for the scorecard, the visiting Tigers:

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Followed by the hometown and .500 Royals:

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