Rick Porcello Wins Game With Arm AND Bat in MLB Hitting Debut

Not all was bad out of Detroit yesterday for sports. While the Wings were choking away the Stanley Cup, we also got to see something I doubt many of us have ever seen.

It is a sad state of affairs for the Detroit Tigers offense when the MVP at the plate for a game is a starting pitcher. Not just any starting pitcher either. Rick Porcello, a rookie, taking his first ever major league at bats.

Rick Porcello, the rookie phenom pitcher, did his thing on the mound and shut the Pittsburgh Pirates down for 7 innings last night allowing just 1 earned run. That wasn't his most impressive feat of the day, however.

In Porcello's first career MLB at bat, he got himself a hit and an RBI to give himself a 1-0 lead.

He didn't stop there though. His next AB he worked the count to 3-1. He got hosed by the umpire then unfortunately, and had a strike called that was clearly out of the zone and should have resulted in a walk. He struck out.

Of course that was his only mistake at the plate. Trusting that the umpire would call it straight. Instead of waiting on a bail out, in his 3rd AB he laced another hit down the line and got himself his 2nd RBI of the night. Guess what the score was. 2-0. Both on Porcello RBIs.

So in his MLB hitting debut the rookie pitcher went 2-3 with 2 RBIs. Should have been 2-2 with a walk, but 2-3 is just fine.

Porcello finally surrendered a run in the 6th, and then left after 7 innings with a 2-1 lead. The Tigers bullpen was able to hold onto the lead for him and he ended up with a win of his own making 3-1. Brandon Inge homered to give them a little breathing room in the 8th.

Going to be a great memory for the kid. It also let us at least give Pittsburgh one loss yesterday, albeit one that matters little compared to the pitiful loss by the Red Wings for the Championship.