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Scott Podsednik broke out of his slump with a double to lead-off the game. Nate Robertson got Iguchi to hit a grounder to third and Podsednik was easily thrown out at third. Nate then got the tough power bats of Thome and Konerko to fly out to Granderson in center. The 2nd went much easier for Robertson as he struck out the first two batters in a 1-2-3 inning. The third went just as well for Nate as he struck out one and retired nine in a row. Nate Robertson statistically struggles on the second time around the order. Unfortunately this trend continued in the top of the fourth as Thome crushed a 3-1 pitch deep to right. Robertson gave up a single to Dye, but got out of the fourth without further trouble. In the fifth he set down the Sox in order getting two more Ks. The Tigers’ offense could not get anything going through four innings off Contreras. They only got a bloop single off the bat of Carlos Guillen. With one out in the fifth Guillen tripled. Chris Shelton was not able to drive him in as he fouled out to first and Infante, in his first game of the year, also fouled out to first stranding Guillen at third. Things fell apart in the 6th for Robertson who gave up his first walk of the game to Iguchi with one out. Jim Thome then doubled down the right field line. Konerko followed with a 2 run single up the middle to make it 3-0. Dye was the fourth batter to reach in a row on Robertson’s second walk of the game. Nate induced a ground ball to first that could have been an inning ending double play, but the Tigers’ made their first error of the year as Guillen dropped the throw from Shelton. The error was charged to Shelton. Joe Crede hit a sac fly to shallow center, but the throw from Granderson was not even close. The Tigers’ intentionally walked Uribe to load the bases. Nate got Brian Anderson to ground into a fielder’s choice to third base. Craig Monroe homered to lead off the bottom of the 6th. However, the only other hit they were able to get in the inning was a swinging bunt by Polanco. Contreras only needed 67 pitches to get through six innings. Robertson came back nicely pitching a 1-2-3 7th and finally retiring Jim Thome on a ground out to first. Maggs followed the 7th inning stretch by singling to lead-off the bottom of the inning. He advanced to second on a wild pitch after Guillen flied to center. Shelton weakly grounded out to short and Ordonez went to third on the play. Another runner was left on third as Infante was not able to drive Maggs in. Chris Spurling took over in the 8th for the Tigers and Fernando Rodney worked the ninth. The bullpen did a nice job of shutting down the White Sox. The Tigers made a slight rally in the bottom of the ninth as Ordonez double and Shelton hit his 6th home run of the season to cut the lead to one. However, Bobby Jenks retired Monroe to earn his 2nd consecutive save against the Tigers. The Tigers’ first error of the season proved to be their downfall as the one unearned run provided the difference. The Tigers are coming back down to earth and the Sox continue their dominance of the Detroiters. The pressure falls on Justin Verlander to end the three game skid tomorrow.  *** OEs 3 Stars of the Game *** #3 Craig Monroe – 1-4 with a HR and one RBI
#2 Chris Shelton – 1-4 with a HR and 2 RBI
#1 Nate Robertson – 7 IP with 4 runs, 3ER, 5 hits, 3 BBs and 6 Ks On Tap – Game 9 v. Chicago White Sox, April 13th 1:05 ET
Justin Verlander (1-0, 0.00) v. John Garland (0-1, 15.19)
Mike Maroth’s start is being pushed back to Sunday because of a sore elbow.
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Go Tigers!!!
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