DETROIT _ His pace was slow, labored almost. He was struggling to repeat his delivery, unable it seemed to hit his location on successive pitches. The velocity on his fastball was down a tick, but more distressing was the lack of late life on it.
It was a curious night for Tigers starter Matthew Boyd.
And yet, he soldiered through five innings, struck out six, got 14 swings and misses, didn't walk anyone and three of the nine hits, including two RBI singles, had exit velocities under 80 mph. Hard to know what to make of it. That's two uncharacteristic starts by Boyd _ not god-awful but not anywhere near his talent and capability _ in a season he might get just 12 total.
But that's a worry for another day because JaCoby Jones and the Tigers offense had his back on this night.
Jones is sizzling at the plate. He set up a couple of runs with a pair of doubles. Then with one out in the seventh against right-hander Ian Kennedy, Jones lined an opposite-field shot (100.4 mph exit velocity) into the seats in right field to put the Tigers up 5-4.
Jonathan Schoop has been raking, too. He knocked in three runs with a sacrifice fly in the third and a game-tying two-run home run in the fifth. This one not quite as prodigious as the 447-footer he put into the shrubs on Tuesday. This one bounced off the top of the wall in right field and went out.
Jones is now 8 for 19 with two doubles, three homers, six RBIs and six runs scored in six games. Sizable production out of the No. 9 spot in the batting order.
The Tigers have now homered in all six games this year. Their league-best 12 homers have accounted for 20 of the team's 25 runs scored this season.
All the real damage against Boyd came in the first three innings. Whit Merrifield, who extended his hitting streak against the Tigers to 16 games and his hit streak against Boyd to nine straight at-bats, doubled to start the game and scored on a two-out double by Maikel Franco.
The Franco at-bat was typical of Boyd's early struggles. He threw some darting sliders to Jorge Soler and Salvador Perez, but on a 1-0 count to Franco, he left a slider up and over plate.
Same with Adalberto Mondesi to start the third _ slider up in the zone, triple. Merrifield and Soler singled off his slider to start the third, both would score, but Boyd started mixing in a knuckle-curve and spotting his fastball better.
He was at 89 pitches after pitching a scoreless fourth and fifth innings when manager Ron Gardenhire went to the bullpen.
And the bullpen, for the second night in a row, was money. After preserving a one-run lead with six scoreless innings Tuesday, four relievers pitched perfect baseball for four innings.
John Schreiber, Bryan Garcia (who earned his first career win) and Buck Farmer retired nine straight hitters between the sixth and eighth innings. That got the game to closer Joe Jimenez who completed the bullpen perfecto. Three-up, three-down, his fourth save.
The Tigers are off to a 4-2 start in this 60-game season.
