I never got back to the doubleheader sweep, but this is much more interesting news.  Ryan Raburn, who had been called up just this month, put together a game that’d do just about anyone proud.  He homered twice and drove in seven runs.  The last Tiger to drive in seven runs in a game was Carlos Pena back in 2003 and since 1957, only Jim Northrup drove in more runs in a game when he drove in eight twice (once in 1968 and once in 1973).  He finished the game four for five and he scored three runs in a truly spectacular individual performance.  And prior to the seven RBIs, he had just four RBIs in his entire major league career.

Kenny Rogers had his third straight tough start.  He gave up seven runs in four innings and it forced the Tigers to come back a couple of different times in this one.  Jason Grilli picked up the win but he was hardly spectacular either.  He gave up two runs in three innings.  Only Tim Byrdak, who hadn’t pitched at the big league level in a month because of an injury, got through the game unscathed with two shutout innings to close out the game. For his trouble, he picked up his first save of the season.

Curtis Granderon had yet another nice game.  He picked up two hits and three runs and he trails only Gary Sheffield on the team with his 79 runs.  In all, seven Tigers had more then one hit with Raburn, Mike Rabelo and Brandon Inge getting three or more.

The rubber game for the five game series is this afternoon.  Justin Verlander will go up against rookie starter John Danks.  Danks was a top flight prospect coming into the season that won a spot in the rotation in spring training.  He’s looked very good a times but at other times he’s gotten pummelled so this one could go either way.

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