Game 71: Rogers Sparkles, Raburn Rescues, Thames Rolls

ESPN highlights available here.

The Score: Tigers 5 – Giants 1

The Gist: Ryan Raburn delivers a long-overdue win for Kenny Rogers and Marcus Thames goes yard again. Rogers went seven strong and allowed just five hits, one walk and one run. Raburn’s pinch-hit homer in the eighth broke the 1-1 tie. Thames hit his 13th homer of the year to center to extend his streak to five games. If his average wasn’t in the .250s one could almost confuse him and his feast-or-famine approach with Rob Deer. Edgar Renteria‘s single in the top of the sixth was the 2,000th of his career.

The Quote: “He’s not in the top 20.” — Todd Jones‘ son on “Tigers Weekly” when asked if his dad was his favorite Major League player.

The Stat: 2. The number of games the Tigers find themselves out of second place.

Up Next: Tigers @ Giants

Armando Galarraga (6-2, 3.31) vs. Barry Zito (2-10, 5.88)