Game 43: Winning Ugly Can Be Beauteous

The Gist: Armando Galarraga threw a gem, Matt Joyce went deep and the Tigers eeked out a one-run victory, 3-2 over flame-throwing D’backs rookie Max Scherzer. It wasn’t a lot of offense, but the Tigers got enough and were able to overcome some untimely walks issued from the bullpen. The play of the game, at least from our view from section 112 at Chase Field, was Pudge Rodriguez’s coaxing the D’backs into a double play with the old “let-the-pop-fly-drop.” Orlando Hudson didn’t run on the pop-up and was likely treated to an earful from Arizona bench coach and baserunning instructor Kirk Gibson.

The Quote: “He actually reminds me a little bit of Jim Northrup.” — Jim Leyland on Joyce.

The Stat: 1. Saturday night’s win was the Tigers’ first in 2008 when they scored fewer than five runs.