Tigers vs. Rangers: Delmon Young Home Run Puts Hosts In Lead

I've personally given the Tigers some flak for bringing Delmon Young back as quickly as they did. Young isn't a great player at the best of times, and when he's hurt, he's even worse. Or at least, he looks even worse. But playing Delmon Young just paid off in a big way in the bottom of the fourth.

First, the top of the fourth. The score was 1-1 going into the top of the fourth, and it was 1-1 coming out of the top of the fourth. Good job by Detroit, right? Overall, sure, but they did have some issues. Justin Verlander retired the first two batters he faced on four pitches. Then he walked Mike Napoli on eight. Nelson Cruz followed with a grounder to second, but Ramon Santiago couldn't make the clean play, and Cruz reached. Verlander got David Murphy to pop out to end the inning, but he wound up throwing more pitches in that scoreless inning than he or Jim Leyland would've liked.

Now for the bottom half. Miguel Cabrera walked to lead off, and was promptly erased by a double play. No matter - with two outs and none on, Delmon Young turned on a first-pitch fastball and launched a solo shot out to left-center. That made it 2-1 Tigers, and that's where we remain going to the fifth. A 2-1 lead, thanks to a pair of home runs from the walking wounded.