SOM Diary - 2013 replay, Royals at Tigers

I've pulled out the Stratomatic 2013 AL replay again and finished the series of the Royals in Detroit, here are the results and game notes:

Game 1: Pitchers' duel - KC 2, DET 0

KC   000 100 000 2  3 3 0 3
DET 000 010 000 0 1 13 0 12

Anibal Sanchez pitches nearly flawless nine innings, allows only four batters to reach base, including three walks. The only blemish on his record is a solo homerun given up to Escobar in the fourth. However, the Royals can pitch, too, and the thirteen hits for the Tigers end up spread so thinly that not much comes out of them: Wade Davis scatters nine hits but allows only one run in 5.2 innings, Hochevar bails him out as Davis leaves with the bases loaded and the bullpen with Coleman, Collins, Holland and Smith brings the game into extra innings without allowing further runs despite Hollands failure to close out the tenth inning after coming in in the ninth.

Top of the tenth, Tigers closer Benoit is called in to give his team another inning to win, but gives up a laser guided rocket towards the left field wall to Lorenzo Cain; leftfielder Andy Dirks chases back, jumps up and just gets some leather on the ball but cannot pull it in - homerun! (Cain rolled a 9 on the ball park card, so homerun robbing rule 30.3 comes in, and Dirks rolls 7, the biggest number that remains a HR for a "2" outfielder trying to rob someone of a homer). Benoit follows up with a walk to Moustakas and an RBI double to Johnson, Phil Coke finishes the tenth but leaves with his team behind by two and the Tigers cannot catch up anymore.

Game 2: KC 1, DET 7

KC 001 000 000 1 10 0 7
DET 110 011 03- 7 9 0 8

The only excitement in the game came from a few spectacular outfield plays (Cain) and a few just as spectacular near misses by outfielders trying to catch up with one of the nineteen hits of the game.

Scoring is less exciting: Royals starter Mendoza allows four runs on six hits over 5 and two thirds innings, and the KC bullpen takes whatever suspense is left out of the game by allowing three runs on two hits and three walks in the bottom of the eighth despite a double play to end the inning. Porcello gets an easy looking win, allowing just one run on five hits with six strikeouts and no walks over six innings.

Game 3: Aces don't like the rain

KC 301 002 000 6 14 1 9
DET 013 210 10- 8 14 0 9

Right from the start, the drizzle and cold seems to make both starters very uncomfortable. Tigers ace Verlander has an uncharacteristic, very shaky first inning, giving up three consecutive hits to start the game, which all turn into runs. The third of these runs scores on a ball batted into the double play by Cain, and then Verlander seems to be getting his feet under him, striking out Moustakas looking. But in the third, Verlander gets in trouble again and barely escapes a bases loaded situation, having given up another run before that.

However, in the bottom of the same inning, Miguel cabrera ties up the game with a single stroke, scoring Infante (double) and Hunter (walk). And in the next inning, Shields gets into trouble too, loading the bases and allowing runs to score on a single from Hunter and  wild pitch to Cabrera.

Defensively, Omar Infante is in the thick of things through the first few innings - in the first inning several hits barely avoid his glove before he is in a DP to record the first two outs in the first, and a surprize third out in the second on a long throw from left field replacement Tuiasosopo (in to give Dirks a day of rest) that catches Alex Gordon by surprize at second base as he tries to stretch a hard line drive from a single into a double.

Brayan Pena shines with another stellar offensive effort, going 4 for 4 with a run and an RBI.

When the bullpens take over the bats go quiet, only Luke Hochevar allows one more run for the Tigers but Drew Smyly, Phil Coke and closer Benoit with the save bring the lead home for the Tigers who win their second series and go 5-1 to start the season.

Next up: the Angels visit Oakland, trying to win their first series of the season.