Did You Know? Tigers-Orioles ALDS Game 2
Pinch-hitter Delmon Young belted a bases-clearing double in the eighth inning to help rally the Orioles to a 7-6 win over the Tigers on Friday in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, inching Baltimore within one win of its first AL Championship Series since 1997.
Here are some interesting statistics to digest:
• Young is now a career 17-for-50 (.340) as a pinch-hitter. In his first year with the Orioles, Young went 10-for-20 with one homer, five RBIs and two walks -- good for a .500/.565/.800 slash line. He is the first pinch-hitter to clear the bases since the Yankees' Ricky Ledee hit a grand slam in Game 4 of the 1999 ALCS.
• Young was 0-for-2 as a pinch-hitter in postseason play entering Friday, but he was credited with a go-ahead RBI groundout in the eighth inning of last year's ALDS in Game 3 for the Rays. Young's four RBIs are tied with Allen Craig for the most among active players in postseason history, according to the Orioles communications department.
• The Tigers' 13 runs allowed past the sixth inning are the most that late through the first two games of a Division Series, and are tied at 11th most for an entire LDS. The all-time record is 29 by the '99 Indians.
• The Tigers are just the second team since 1974 whose relievers allowed four or more runs in consecutive games, joining the '12 Nationals, who did it in Games 2 and 3 of the NL Division Series, and again in Game 5 in which the Giants rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win the series.
• Only five teams in 44 attempts since the playoffs expanded in 1994 have come back from an 0-2 hole in the League Division Series -- most recently, the World Series champion Giants in 2012. The last team to do so in the American League was the 2001 Yankees, who overcame the A's. Of the 13 AL teams that fell behind 0-2 since, only two have forced Game 5, while seven were swept.
• Seven of the Tigers' nine runs this series have been delivered on home runs. J.D. Martinez became the first Tigers player, 16th overall, to homer in each of his first two career playoff games after going yard in the in the fourth inning on Friday. Nick Castellanos followed with a solo shot, making Detroit the first team in history to open the postseason with back-to-back homers in consecutive games, according to Baseball Reference. The 2008 Rays were the last team to homer in consecutive plate appearances in back-to-back playoff games -- Carlos Peña and Evan Longoria did so in Games 3 and 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Red Sox.
• Tigers starter Justin Verlander recorded four strikeouts on Friday to pass Mariano Rivera for ninth all-time in that postseason category. Verlander's 112 playoffs strikeouts are eight shy of tying Curt Schilling for eighth place. Verlander dropped from seventh to ninth among playoff strikeouts per nine innings, now at 10.35 from his prior mark of 10.4. His streak of five consecutive playoff games with 10 or more strikeouts ended.
• Before walking Jonathan Schoop in the fifth, Verlander had faced 74 consecutive batters without issuing a walk -- his longest streak since going 102 straight in his MVP season in 2011. Verlander left the game with the Tigers leading, 5-3, and was in line to improve to 8-0 at Camden Yards, and 5-0 in eight ALDS starts.
• The Orioles have won 44 of their last 47 games when scoring more than four runs. Baltimore is 76-15 overall this year when putting up four-plus. The O's also improved to 25-30 during day games this year. They were the only LDS team with a losing record during the day this season.