News and notes from around the playoffs:
- Unfortunately, injuries are becoming a major storyline in the ALCS, and it seems that Detroit is getting the worst of it on that front: Delmon Young, who was rushed back into action after Magglio Ordonez was lost for the season, was scratched from last night's game when his strained oblique started bothering him again. The plan was for Young to take batting practice to assess whether he could play in Game 3, but Young couldn't even swing a bat before the game.
- Detroit catcher/DH Victor Martinez is also dealing with injury this morning after straining an intercostal muscle in his rib cage while belting a fourth-inning homer in last night's contest. Martinez could barely make it around the bases after hitting the homer, but he remained in the game for two more at-bats and said after the game that he plans to play today.
- In the Texas dugout, third baseman Adrian Beltre is feeling the effects of fouling a Doug Fister fastball off his left knee in the fourth inning. Beltre went to the ground and needed a couple of minutes to compose himself, but he, too, stayed in the game, and X-rays on his knee showed no breaks.
- And the injuries weren't limited to the field of play: Josh Hamilton lost control of his bat on a swing-and-miss in the sixth inning, sending the lumber flying into the stands and striking a Tigers fan in the head. The fan appeared to be OK and he, too, remained at the game.
Yesterday's action:
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Detroit trimmed its deficit in the ALCS to one game with an impressive 5-2 victory over Texas last night at Comerica Park. The Rangers plated a run in the top of the first against Tigers righty Doug Fister, but Fister settled in nicely after that, holding Texas to seven hits and two runs over 7.1 effective innings (102 pitches, three strikeouts, no walks). Meanwhile, the Detroit offense woke up after sleepwalking through the first three innings of the game: Victor Martinez knotted the game at 1 with a solo homer in the fourth, Miggy Cabrera doubled home a run in the fifth to give the Tigers the lead, and the Tigers salted the game away with solo homers from Jhonny Peralta in the sixth and Cabrera in the eighth. Jose Valverde worked around a leadoff double from Josh Hamilton to close out the Rangers in the ninth.
The LCS standings read like this:
- Texas 2, Detroit 1.
- Milwaukee 1, St. Louis 1.
On tap for today:
ALCS Game 4: Rangers @ Tigers: Harrison (14-9, 3.39) vs. Porcello (14-9, 4.75) at 3:19 p.m. CDT (FOX)
NLCS Game 3: Brewers @ Cardinals: Gallardo (17-10, 3.52) vs. Carpenter (11-9, 3.45) at 7:05 p.m. CDT (TBS)