Off the Shneid!
posted in 2007 season, Oakland A's |Tigers 5, A’s 2
That was exactly what the doctor ordered, wasn’t it? A struggling starter goes on the disabled list, and another minor leaguer steps up and helps the Tigers pick up just their third win in nine games on the road.
Jordan Tata came up from Triple-A Toledo to pitch seven (relatively speaking) very good innings for Detroit, allowing two runs and striking out five. He tossed around 100 pitches during that span and forced a couple double plays. Most importantly, he saved the bullpen. Chad Durbin pitched a scoreless eighth and Todd Jones a scoreless ninth to get the save.
I don’t have to say much on the importance of a strong showing from Tata, who started for the first time in his MLB career, but pitched out of the pen a bit in 2006 after making the team out of Spring Training. The bullpen was struggling. The starters were struggling. This helped immensely.
With Rogers on the DL for probably quite awhile, it should be interesting to see what becomes of Tata and the starting role he filled. Did he show Detroit enough to keep him up? Will Virgil Vasquez come up to fill the starting role? If Andrew Miller or Nate Robertson have run out of gas, both Vasquez and Tata may spend time on the mound. I don’t know if we can expect every start to be as good as this one, but Tata pitched well enough to give me some confidence.
Detroit got some decent run scoring with two-outs, which helped back Tata’s show. Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco each went 3-for-5 at the top of the lineup.
Side note: Tata got a face of shaving cream from Todd Jones during his FSN interview. I know he’s a rookie, but surely he must have gotten that face of shaving cream out of the way in 2006? Maybe not. I don’t think he minded. He got his first career win.