While it wasn’t a feat that is as rare as a hitter going for the cycle or a pitcher throwing a perfect-game, Drew Smyly did something in Detroit’s home opener that not many pitchers do, and that is to pick up a four-inning save.
On Friday, with the Detroit Tigers holding a 5-3 lead over the New York Yankees, Smyly was inserted into the game in the sixth inning and manager Jim Leyland never looked back. Finishing out the final four-innings of the Tigers 8-3 victory with complete brilliance, in which Doug Fister picked up his first win of the season, Smyly allowed no baserunners while striking out 5, looking like he was in mid-season form.
Now what makes this unique is that Detroit lacks a candidate to call as a closer of their own. Early on in the season beyond Smyly, Joaquin Benoit, Phil Coke and Brayan Villarreal have all been lit up. And in the past few days the signing of former closer Jose Valverde along with little talked about addition Evan Reed to their Toledo Mud Hens AAA club show that they are trying to do anything and everything to put some adhesive on the broken bullpen situation.
While I am not advocating bringing back Valverde, or using a committed by any means, those are some numbers to really think about. While I do believe that a team is best set up to have a closer, so there is a defined role waiting on the bench, keeping warm and keeping his mind sharp, the Tigers lack of a closer may not be as harmful to the team as one may have originally thought. And something for the short term can be successful if patch worked correctly.
A perfect situation? No. But hardly the death trap that many so-called experts are claiming the Tigers to be in.
