Baseball

Coming off four straight excellent starts, Porcello appeared on the way to another nice outing today, at least until the fourth. He gave up all six runs and seven hits in that frame before coming back with perfect fifth and sixth innings afterwards. One bad innings doesn't necessarily mean that his strong run is over, but it does put a damper on things. Fortunately, he'll miss the Red Sox this weekend and get the Angels next time out.

The Tigers were already down 9-3, so Valverde's showing didn't hurt the team. It did, however, demonstrate once again why he's a really hard guy to trust. When Chris Davis took him deep today, it upped his total to six homers allowed in 19 1/3 innings.

Garcia was up in the bigs for only a few days this time around. The 22-year-old outfielder has a .279/.315/.441 batting line in 25 major league games this season.

Fielder has been hitting for average of late, but except for a three-game surge at the beginning of the month, the power hasn't been there. He has a total of five homers and 27 RBI in 44 games since May 1 after totaling seven homers and 27 RBI in 25 games in April. Fortunately, since he's hitting behind Miguel Cabrera, he's still driving in runs with singles and doubles.

He's likely just getting the day off. Don Kelly is starting in right field.

Verlander didn't have his best night, as the Orioles got to him for two home runs among his seven hits allowed. He also walked four batters on the night. He'll likely be better his next time out, Sunday against the Red Sox.

Leyland has already said it on multiple occasions, but the topic was raised again after Alex Avila (forearm) was placed on the disabled list Monday. "I won't catch Victor unless it's some freak situation," said Leyland. The Tigers will go with Brayan Pena and Bryan Holaday behind the plate for now.