CLEVELAND — Any team hitting on all cylinders can be a lot to handle. A team with a lot of talent hitting on all cylinders can be unbeatable. That’s what the Tigers have been in the first week of the season. At the start of play Friday, the Tigers were leading the American League in both hitting and pitching.
As a result, the Tigers were 3-0 going into their game in Cleveland. Nine innings later, the Tigers were 4-0 and their hitting and pitching continues to look formidable. The Tigers extended their season-opening winning streak with a wire-to-wire victory over the Indians.
The Indians’ pitching staff was one of the top staffs in the second half of last season, and is expected to be a strength of the team again this year. Indeed, coming into the game with the Tigers, the Indians’ pitching staff had a 1.04 ERA, led the majors in strikeouts and had held opposing batters to a .096 batting average.
On Friday, however, the Tigers hit .419 vs. the Indians, pounding out 18 hits. In winning their first four games of the season, the Tigers have outscored their opponents 30-5 and outhit them 53-24. “One through nine we feel really good about it, but two through six is really tough. There’s no break for pitchers,” said manager Brad Ausmus of his lineup.
Prior to the game, Indians manager Terry Francona said, “When you go over the scouting report on them and see all these guys hitting .600, that’s no fun.”
After the game, Francona was even more impressed. “They keep coming at you,” he said. “We talk so much about the middle of their order, but when the bottom of the order is hitting like they are right now, it makes it tough. There’s no let-up.”
In the win over the Indians, the Tigers had seven players with two or more hits, and the first four hitters in the lineup were a combined 10-for-22.