The Tigers notched a series victory over the Red Sox with a 2-1 win on Monday. The Tigers’ best performer, according to WPA, was Justin Verlander, while their worst performer was Miguel Cabrera. The Red Sox’s best performer was Mitch Moreland, while Brock Holt hurt them the most.
Everything that could go wrong for the Tigers went right today as the team got clutch hitting from a couple big bats and good pitching performances to take three of four from the flu-depleted Boston Red Sox.
The Tigers bullpen makes us sad too. (Photo by Alexandra Simon)
The shaky bullpen had been much of the story through the first week of the season, as set-up man Bruce Rondon struggled mightily and failed to lock down the eighth inning. Actually, pretty much everyone not named Wilson has had their struggles early on in the young 2017 season.
After two incredibly disappointing performances, Rondon was demoted to Toledo for wunderprospect Joe Jimenez early Monday morning and seemingly under a mandate to lose weight and improve his conditioning.
More after the jump!
Let’s take a look at the game’s best and worst performers, as brought to you by WPA (win probability added).
Predictably, Bruce Rondon was the Tigers’ weakest performer while Nicholas Castellanos was their best. On the Red Sox side of things, Chris Young came out on top while Rick Porcello was bringing up the rears. (Honorable mention to reliever Matt Barnes, who was the Sox’s best pitcher in terms of WPA.)
The Detroit Tigers wasted a solid performance from starter Daniel Norris—Norris clearly didn’t have his best stuff but gave the Tigers six innings of 3-run ball—and a Nicholas Castellanos go-ahead homerun when Bruce Rondon and Kyle Ryan stumbled in the eighth inning.
Glass Half Fulmer 