The Good: Last year the Tigers got their fourth win over Cleveland on September 28th. This year it only took them until May 2nd to notch win number four over the Tribe. The Tigers have now gone 4-1 against Cleveland; they took 2 of 3 from their arch rivals in Cleveland earlier in April.

Also Good? The…the bullpen! The Tigers’ beleaguered ‘pen has put up 9 consecutive scoreless innings over their last 3 games. And it hasn’t just been Justin and Alex Wilson carrying the load either. K-Rod’s gotten into the action, though his save last night was a little hairy, as well as Blaine Hardy and—get this!—Anibal Sanchez. Everything’s clicking right now. *knocks on wood*

Also Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer after coming off the 10-day DL. So, yeah. That was a pretty Good thing as well. Cabrera did leave the game in the eighth when his groin tightened due to the cold, but it doesn’t seem serious.

The Bad: Justin Verlander walked 4 so I guess that was bad (though he was good, overall). His location was much better against Cleveland tonight than in his previous start against them. He also got them to chase pitches high in the strikezone that they weren’t chasing in his April 14th start in Cleveland.

The Ugly:

Bullet Points Are For Lazy People:
• Alex Avila got another start against a righty, although the Tigers have no plans to go to a platoon to get Avila more playing time. James McCann, while he is scuffling mightily, is still the primary catcher. Could Avila perhaps change Ausmus’ mind if he continues to hit?
• K-Rod got the first two batters of the ninth fairly easily, before giving up an opposite field double to Yan Gomes and a walk to Carlos Santana. With the ever-dangerous Francisco Lindor representing the tying run, the wily veteran got Cleveland’s star shortstop to pop up to end the game.
• Justin Wilson just continues to mow down the opposition. After a blip against the White Sox the other day, Wilson was back to his old tricks against Cleveland. The hard-throwing lefty struck out two, allowing a hit and a walk. He’s sporting a 14.66 K/9 (!!!) for the season.
• Speaking of relievers with big fastballs… Believeland’s Cody Allen has an 18.00 K/9 over 10 innings. He’s struck out HALF OF THE 40 BATTERS HE’S FACED, WTF.
• Although Tyler Collins went 0-for-4 he continued to have good swings. He seems like a different player now. Read all about it here.
• Andrew Romine went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk. He scored Alex Avila in the second with a double off Corey Kluber. Romine continues to provide some value off the bench as he spelled José Iglesias (who came in to play short when Cabrera exited and Romine took over at first).
• About Cy Kluber: Cleveland’s ace was not himself from the get-go and came out of the game in the third, having thrown only 55 pitches. Turns out he was dealing with a stiff back that was exacerbated by the cold weather.

The Good: Pretty much everything? Daniel Norris turned in a strong start, holding the Indians to just 1 run over 6 IP, and the offense jumped all over Trevor Bauer, getting 7 runs off the right hander. After Norris departed, Alex Wilson and Anibal Sanchez finished the game off, helping the Tigers notch a 7-1 win over Cleveland.

The Tigers have gotten at least 6 innings from their starters in 5 of their last 7 games (the exceptions being Daniel Norris’ start against Seattle Wednesday and Jordan Zimmermann’s outing against Chicago on Sunday).

The Bad: Norris fought his control at times, and gave up 4 walks. He was able to harness it later in the game, however, and was able to wriggle out of a few jams as well. I like when I have to reach to find bad things to talk about in game recaps.

The Ugly: Honestly… Nothing. This was a pretty good effort from the Tigers, from top to bottom. Dave Clark better keep bringing out the lineup card.

More At 11:
• Daniel Norris has given up just 1 run to the Indians in two starts, spanning 12 IP. He’s struck out 13 batters in that time (but given up 8 walks). The command is something he still needs to work on, but you could say he’s been effectively wild against the Tigers’ biggest competition.
• For whatever reason, Bauer can’t handle the Tigers. Prior to Monday’s game, Bauer’s all-time ERA against the Tigers was 7.24. This covers 54.2 IP. Bauer’s big problem against Detroit is keeping them off the basepaths; he’s given up 74 hits and allowed 25 walks. Bauer’s also hit 8 Tigers batters, the most of any team he’s faced.
• So, how about Sanchez? Anibal pitched two scoreless innings for the Tigers, and he didn’t do it by getting lucking and barely ekeing by. Anibal got 14 swings/7 whiffs, collecting 3 strikeouts in his 2 innings. An eagle-eyed GHF follower noted that it seemed Anibal had ditched his arm slot adjustment. Though Jim Price noticed his fastball—which touched 93mph—didn’t have much life at the plate, it got the most swings and misses for him on the evening. Could Anibal just have needed time to adjust to a new role? The jury’s still out; we’ll have to see more from Anibal before drawing any conclusions.
• Tyler Collins continues to hit on the homestand, He drilled a 3-run homer to give the Tigers a 5-0 lead in the second inning off Bauer. Collins has a .304/.360/.435 triple slash for the season, and over the last two weeks: .286/.375/.457. He just seems to be putting together solid at bats every time he digs in against opposing pitchers. When J.D. Martinez is ready to come off the DL, who goes down and who stays should not be a difficult decision. As long as he keeps hitting, Collins should stay.
• Since the MudHens were off on Monday, JaCoby Jones came back to Detroit and took batting practice to stay sharp. He’ll return to Toledo to resume his rehab assignment today. JaCoby should get a couple more games, at least, before he’s ready to be activated.
• Miguel Cabrera is going to be activated off the DL today and will be in the lineup! Yay!
• The Tigers got their third win of the season over Cleveland. Last year, they didn’t get their third win over Cleveland until September 27th. One more win over the Indians and the Tigers will match their 2016 total. Wow.

The Good: Jordan Zimmermann actually had an encouraging start after a whole lot of meh. The big righty went only 5+ innings and gave up 3 runs, but his fastball had life and his slider and changeup were swing and miss pitches. One troubling sign in previous Zimmermann starts was how flat and lifeless his repertoire looked. The main reason Zimmermann was unable to go 6 was an elevated pitch count. After making a fix following a video session, Zimmermann showed signs of who Tigers fans thought they were getting in 2016 before groin, shoulder, and neck injuries derailed much of the season.

The Bad: Actually, everything went pretty well Sunday. The bullpen gave the Tigers 4 (!!!!!!) scoreless innings, and K-Rod capped it off with a 1-2-3 9th. Okay maybe this belongs in the Good section too.

Maybe the only Bad to come out of Sunday’s getaway day matinee was that JZimm couldn’t go 6, and so Ausmus had to use four relievers (although he avoided having to use Justin Wilson in back to back games).

Anyway, I’m sure an intrepid reader with eagle-eyes will come up with something for the Bad section.

The Ugly:

Sorry, José.

In Other News:
• JaCoby Jones continues his rehab in Toledo. And his mom is posting pics of his new batting helmet/faceshield on twitter. Jones has gone 2-for-10 so far through 3 games on his rehab stint.
• Bruce Rondon has allowed 1 run in 4.2 IP in Toledo; he’s also struck out 5. Oh yeah, and he’s walked 4.
• The Tigers called up Chad Bell, a left-handed starter, from Toledo and sent Joe Jimenez back. The Tigers’ next opponent, the Cleveland Indians, are hitting at a .218 clip off lefties so far this season. Through 21.2 IP for Bell: 1.25 ERA, 18 H, 3 ER, 7 BB, 25 Ks.
• John Hicks and Jim Adduci have combined to go 19-for-46 as injury fill-ins. Both will likely end up back in Toledo soon, but have more than done their jobs offensively.
• Christin Stewart has reached in 7 straight with Double-A Erie.
• J.D. Martinez went 3-for-9 in an extended spring training game the other day. He was given an at bat in every inning.
• Miguel Cabrera appears set to come off the DL on Tuesday.