Sat May 17 11:04:08 2008

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Declawed: Woeful Tigers battle Diamondbacks

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(Sports Network) - Sporting the longest losing streak in the American League at the moment, the disappointing Detroit Tigers try again to reverse their fortunes as they play the second of a three-game interleague set against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Now six games off the pace in the AL Central, the Tigers have lost five in a row as a result of their 4-3 setback in Friday's series opener. Now just 8-14 on the road, Detroit hasn't won back-to-back games in more than two weeks.

Last night's starter Jeremy Bonderman surrendered three runs on just three hits, but also issued four walks over six innings. Zach Miner suffered the loss for the Tigers, his third in four decisions as he blew his second save of the campaign.

Magglio Ordonez tallied three hits and scored once for the Tigers, while Miguel Cabrera hit a home run and plated two in the losing effort.

Arizona's Dan Haren picked up the victory, his fifth of the season, as he allowed three runs on six hits over seven innings of work. Tony Pena was credited with his first save of the season as he worked a perfect ninth.

Eric Byrnes accounted for two of the five hits for Arizona, one of which was a home run, finishing with two RBI and two runs scored.

Both teams send rookies to the mound tonight, the Tigers tacking their chances with Armando Galarraga and Arizona giving the ball to Max Scherzer.

In the case of Galarraga, a native of Venezuela, he saw his ERA jump to 3.07 as a result of his May 7 outing versus Boston, a game in which the right- hander struck out six and walked only one, but also permitted five runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. Nevertheless, Detroit still picked up the narrow 10-9 victory.

As for Scherzer, this game counts as just his fourth appearance at the major league level. Since striking out seven versus Houston in a relief appearance back on April 29, the Missouri product has been part of losses to both Philadelphia and the Cubs.

Scherzer's outing versus Chicago a week ago resulted in six strikeouts and just one unearned run allowed over six innings, but did little to change the outcome of a 7-2 setback on the road.

Arizona hitters have compiled a major-league best 19 triples through 42 games and, thanks to 45 home runs, sport the second-highest slugging percentage in the NL (.451) entering the weekend.

While the Detroit bats have not lived up to expectations, the club's pitching staff is taking a huge hit as well. The team currently has the highest ERA in the American League at an unsightly 5.02. Along with Seattle, the Tigers are the only team in the league without a shutout thus far and is the lone AL club still without a complete game by one of it's starters.

The Diamondbacks are 12-7 all-time against the Tigers, including a 7-3 mark now at Chase Field.