Whew. A Win.

So, Danny Salazar has the stuff! He threw his first start today and was waaaay better than he had been showing all spring. It took a lot of work - 105 pitches in 6 innings - but he kept his head in the game and had a quality start. He went 6 innings only giving up 2 runs and struck out TEN!! He's back to being that young pitcher we're all excited about, I think...

The real excitement came from the guy who relieved Salazar - Nick Hagadone. AKA "Nick Haga-groan" or anything else you can come up with that expresses fan's fears when it's Nick's turn at the rubber. But guess what? Dude not only came in to have a 1-2-3 7th inning after Salazar gave up a homer, but he came back for a 1-2-3 8th! You cool now, bro? Let's hope.

Cody Allen came in for the 9th, and he hasn't been all that lights-out either. He got the first two outs via the strikeout, then gave up a walk and everyone was like "uh oh!" but before we knew what hit us, he struck out the next guy and it was BALLGAME!

Salazar got the win and Allen got a save. Noice!

Now, could the rest of the team bring the bats to match today's good pitching? Yep!

It was really the bottom of the order - Roberto Perez followed by Jose Ramirez - that clinched this game today. They combined for 5 of the team's 8 hits, 3 of its 4 runs crossing the plate, and 1 of its 4 RBI! Ramirez got a double and Perez got his second home run of this short season!

Jason Kipnis stopped a 0-for-16 skid at the plate and managed a hit today. Brantley totally did not get a hit though. Frownie face.

Carlos Santana went 1 for 4 and strangely enough, did not walk. Brandon Moss got a double! And came around to score.

The guys held themselves to just 4 strikeouts today! Yesterday and the game before they struck out 19 times. Maybe that's a trend that is going away?

The offense is still not impressive in the least (I mean, this was a rightie they faced today!) but they need to keep trying and eking out runs here. Pitching is giving everything they've got so if the rotation can keep it under 4 runs and the offense can get over 4 runs, well that is a winning season.

One more afternoon with Minnesota, Sunday at 2:10. It'll be House versus an RHP with an ERA near 9. That is 5x better than House's ERA. Let's hope Tiger Junior gets his shit in gear.

No Radio Chatter today - I was out doing yardwork! See you tomorrow!