Andrew Romine came in to pitch the eighth inning for the Tigers in what was then a 17-5 thumping by the Twins. Andrew Romine is the the Tigers shortstop, but he filled in admirably and was thanked by his manager for doing so. Eating up the inning and saving a starter or Joe Nathan from having to pitch in a garbage game before a day/night doubleheader today is the only reason he was in there, so what's a few more runs at that point? His line was: one inning pitched (just missing the 1.1 innings pitched by starter Robbie Ray), three runs allowed on 4 hits, including two home runs.
Two innings really did the Tigers in last night. The second inning, that Robbie Ray never got out of until Brad Ausmus removed him, and a nine-run sixth inning. Ray gave up six runs on six hits—a single, three doubles, and two home runs—but a 6-1 score is manageable. In fact, the Tigers had their own offensive burst of an inning in the fifth, to make the score 6-5. Sadly, in the sixth, the Twins were all sorry dudes, we're just gonna make this a blowout and scored nine runs. They scored two more the following inning to make it 17-5 before Romine's appearance became necessary in the eighth.
Look how sad he is after that pitch, the one that made it a nice, round 20 for the Twins. He just cocks his head to the side as if to say, come on, really? His reaction to the first one is pretty much the same, too. What about the Unwritten Rules of Baseball? It's a 19-6 game in the eighth inning with the shortstop up there throwing BP and these guys are swinging for the fences. Is that any worse than stealing in the same situation? It's only a half-serious question; that discussion is a ridiculous one, but at the same time, look how sad Trevor Plouffe made Andrew Romine. Isn't that what the unwritten rules are really all about anyway? Preventing baseball players from being sad?
These are the kinds of things you begin to think about during a 20-6 game.
[MLB]