Tigers' Early Success due in Large Part to Porcello

Stan McNeal - SportingNews.com

Porcello is 8-4 with a 3.54 ERA for Detroit.

On a steamy Thursday night at Busch Stadium, Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro crumbled to his backside with leg cramps and had to be carried off the field in the middle of the seventh inning.

But the heat did not beat Tigers starter Rick Porcello, literally or figuratively.

At a time when the Tigers were in near-desperate need of good news, they turned to their 20-year-old rookie. Despite a first-pitch temperature of 90 degrees, Porcello coolly delivered a 6-3 victory by allowing one earned run in 5 2/3 innings.

The Tigers had lost four in a row and earlier Thursday benched slumping slugger Magglio Ordonez and returned struggling starter Dontrelle Willis to the disabled list because of an anxiety disorder. Ordonez will sit for "an indefinite period" after going a career-worst 38 games without a homer.

The Tigers don't know what they will do with Willis, who, after showing signs that his control problems had improved, walked 18 batters (in 11 innings) in his past three starts. Willis insists his problems are mechanics-related and that he is fine. The Tigers contend his mechanics come apart in anxious settings, such as pitching before major league crowds.

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As a result of Thursday's moves, Detroit is not getting any contributions from four players who will make a combined $50.5 million this season. Left fielder Carlos Guillen (shoulder) is out indefinitely, and righthander Jeremy Bonderman (shoulder) also is back on the disabled list.

As the team neared the end of an 11-game trip, manager Jim Leyland admitted it was dealing with "major issues." No wonder he was so pleased to head home without being swept in St. Louis.

"Crucial would be an exaggeration, but this was a real nice win," Leyland said after the Tigers finished the trip 5-6. "We were ripe for a sweep. It would have been easy to say, 'Let's get home, long trip.' The trip wasn't good but it could have been disastrous, and it wasn't."

It certainly isn't an exaggeration to say that Porcello (8-4, 3.54 ERA) is as big a reason as any that the Tigers have been able to hang on to their lead in the A.L. Central. While strong seasons by righthanders Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson haven't been totally expected -- Verlander is coming off a career-worst year and Jackson was shipped out by Tampa Bay -- Porcello has emerged as one of the season's most pleasant surprises.

He is two years out of Seton Hall (N.J.) Prep school and entered spring training as a long shot to make Detroit's rotation. If righthander Armando Galarraga had not been away at the World Baseball Classic, Porcello would not have had much of an opportunity to prove himself. But he seized his chance and, said Leyland, clearly was one of the Tigers' five best starters in Florida.

Thus far, Porcello has made the Tigers look smart, not only for bringing him to the big leagues when they did but for signing him in the first place. He slipped to the 27th pick in the 2007 draft because of signability issues (translation: He's represented by Scott Boras), but the Tigers went against baseball's wishes and gave him a $7.285 million over-slot deal.

'Not your normal 20-year-old'

After a rough April (6.23 ERA in four starts), Porcello has won seven of his past nine starts, including a 5-0 run in May during which he posted a 1.50 ERA. In high school, scouts say Porcello threw a fastball clocked in the upper-90-mph range, but he has dialed back on the velocity for better command of his two-seamer.

"It's not high school anymore," he said. "If I air it out and leave the ball up, that's when you get hit a lot easier than keeping the ball down and throwing 1 or 2 miles per hour slower."

"He's adding and subtracting with his fastball, trying to make it sink, he's trying to make it rise," Tigers pitching coach Rick Knapp said. "But there are times when he reaches back and gets close to what he was throwing."

Against the Cardinals, Porcello threw even slower than usual, proving why Knapp said, "He's not your normal 20-year-old out there."

Because the Cardinals feast on fastballs, Porcello said he went to his changeup more than he ever has. It was on, too. He has been roughed up by lefthanders this season, but Thursday night he got lefthanded-hitting Rick Ankiel and Colby Rasmus to wave at changeups for strike three in tight situations.

"This is a team designed to hit fastballs and every fastball I left up, they hit a line drive for a base hit," Porcello said. "The changeup was working and bailed me out in a couple of situations where it could have been a lot worse."

Once considered the best prep pitcher in the land, Porcello committed to North Carolina before he signed a four-year deal with Detroit. On a night when the Tar Heels were eliminated from the College World Series, Porcello was a state away leading his team to perhaps its biggest win of the season.

"I'm pretty happy with my decision," he said.

So are the Tigers.

Stan McNeal is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at smcneal@sportingnews.com.

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