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Tigers-Mariners Preview

Apr 15, 2010 - 5:23 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Detroit (6-3) at Seattle (4-6), 10:10 p.m. EDT

The Detroit Tigers certainly aren't going to be able to rally for victories in every game. Jeremy Bonderman made sure they didn't have to face such pressure in his season debut.

After a tough end to a homestand in which their perseverance fell short, the Tigers hope for another strong outing from Bonderman as he matches up with ace Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners on Friday night in the opener of a three-game set.

Detroit (6-3) is coming off its first series loss, dropping two of three against Kansas City to end a 4-2 homestand. The Tigers lost 7-3 in the finale Wednesday, failing to pull off another come-from-behind victory.

After narrowing the Royals' lead to a run in the fifth inning, Detroit had the bases loaded with no outs and cleanup man Miguel Cabrera at the plate. Cabrera, though, grounded into a routine double play, tying the game before Kansas City scored four unanswered runs.

The Tigers have trailed in five of their six victories. The only win in which Detroit didn't need a comeback was in Bonderman's first outing.

Bonderman (1-0, 1.80 ERA) gave up one hit and one run while striking out five in five innings of a 4-2 win over Cleveland on Saturday.

He won for the first time in nearly two years, bouncing back from surgery that broke up a blood clot in his throwing shoulder. The right-hander was 0-1 with an 8.71 ERA in eight games - one start - last season.

"It was fun to just get back on the mound, compete and be who I am and not worry about my arm hurting," Bonderman said. "It's been a long journey back, but I'm hoping I got 35 more starts in and hopefully we can do something special."

Bonderman is 5-3 with a 4.68 ERA in 10 starts against the Mariners.

Poor pitching was Detroit's biggest problem against Kansas City, allowing 22 runs and 45 hits.

"If we are going to win consistently, we've got to get better pitching," manager Jim Leyland said. "This just isn't good enough."

In the opener of an 11-game three-city trip, Detroit may not be able to afford another ineffective performance on the mound as they face Hernandez (0-0, 3.29).

The right-hander has won five straight decisions against the Tigers and is 5-2 with a 2.68 ERA in eight starts, surrendering one home run in 50 1-3 innings.

Hernandez is making his third start after getting a total of four runs to work with. After battling control problems in his first outing, he walked one and gave up three runs in seven innings of a 4-3 win over Texas on Saturday.

After beating Oakland 3-0 on Tuesday night, Seattle (4-6) won 4-2 in the finale of that three-game set the following evening to earn its first series win.

The Mariners had 11 hits, showing signs of coming around after scoring five runs over their previous three games.

"You don't ever want to have a bad week, especially not the first week of the season," hitting coach Alan Cockrell told the Mariners' official Web site. "We are a better club than we've shown. We'll be all right."

Seattle star Ichiro Suzuki snapped an 0-for-13 skid by beating out a dribbler up the first base line in the fifth inning. Suzuki is batting .394 (13 for 33) against Bonderman.

Detroit went 5-4 against Seattle last season, taking two of three at Safeco Field.