Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.You Oughta Know ...
That Justin Verlander and the Tigers are pretty tough.
They spotted the Orioles five runs Monday in the top of the first inning but somehow came back to win, 6-5, on Clete Thomas' ninth-inning home run.
"I've never hit a walk-off homer before - not at any level," he said. "When I was rounding first and realized it had gone out, I didn't know how to react. It feels better than you even think it will -- and that's something you always dream of doing."
Verlander gave up hits to the first four batters he faced in the game and seven of the first 10. But he followed the first with seven scoreless innings to give Detroit a chance.
"I think we [ticked] him off after the first inning," [Aubrey] Huff said. "Certainly, you get five in the first against Verlander, you hope to win the game, but it didn't happen."From the Trainer's Room ...
Roy Oswalt is still not recovered from a sore back, and his next start won't be until Saturday -- if he doesn't end up on the disabled list.
Oswalt left his start last Tuesday and threw a bullpen session Monday.
Oswalt said he would meet with doctors on Tuesday and throw another bullpen session on Wednesday.
"I'm not 100 percent," Oswalt said. "I just don't feel good."
Numbers Game ...Neftali Feliz -- yet another player Texas got from Atlanta in the 2007 Mark Teixeira deal -- became the first pitcher since 1962 to strike out the first four batters he faced in his big-league career. (Pete Richert of the Dodgers struck out the first six Reds he faced on April 12, 1962: Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, Wally Post, Johnny Edwards and Tommy Harper). Making his debut at Oakland, Feliz pitched two perfect innings and hit 101 mph on the radar gun.
In Their Own Words ...
"I was kind of sitting on a pitch, and I got totally the opposite of what I was sitting on. I have no idea how I hit it out. I just was late; that's why it went over there. By no means was it a good piece of hitting; it was very good pitching. If I'm not sitting on changeup and I'm sitting on fastball there, I probably pull it into a double play." -- Washington's Adam Dunn on his three-run homer off Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton
Advance Scouting ...
It's almost must-win time for the Rays. Tampa Bay trails Boston by five games in the AL wild-card chase, and the Red Sox open a two-game series at Tropicana Field tonight (7:08 PM ET). Tampa starter Matt Garza is 5-1 with a 2.98 ERA in 10 career starts against Boston, not even including two wins in last year's ALCS. Red Sox lefty Jon Lester this year is 0-2 against the Rays, with a 12.54 ERA.
