Johnson silences Royals as Tigers win
White's first home run of season breaks scoreless tie
DETROIT -- Rondell White's home run could not be accurately measured in
distance. It could only be measured in its effect.
Before White drove a Mike Wood slider off the brick wall in left-center
field, the Tigers and Royals were scoreless through 5 1/2 innings. After the
solo shot, the Tigers sent 11 batters to the plate in the seventh and hit
their way to a 7-3 win Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park.
With White's first home run of the season, Detroit's quick-strike offense
struck. Ivan Rodriguez went 4-for-5 on the day. White, Bobby Higginson, Omar
Infante and Carlos Guillen had two hits each.
"It seems like when one guy gets going," White said, "everybody gets rolling.
Hopefully we can do it all year."
Johnson would settle for at least once every five games. After going winless
after July 29 last season and struggling with his command during Spring
Training, Johnson pitched at least six scoreless innings in his opening start
for the second consecutive year. His offense made sure it resulted in his
second straight season-opening win.
"He really was the difference in the game," manager Alan Trammell said of
Johnson. "I know the final outcome looked like kind of a different ballgame,
but it was going to be tough."
If Johnson was the difference, White was at least a catalyst. When he stepped
to the plate with one out in the sixth, the Royals had patchworked three
scoreless innings out of their long relief corps after a Guillen line drive
knocked starter Zack Greinke out of the game. Detroit had a lone baserunner
in scoring position up to that point, and just two runners since Greinke's
departure.
Except for the starter's injury, everything else pointed towards a
low-scoring affair. Then came White.
After putting himself in a hitter's count at 2-0, White swung and missed at
back-to-back pitches. On a full count, he put to use his Spring Training work
with the Tigers hitting coach.
"He threw me two sliders I was out in front of," White said of Wood, "but
I've been working with [hitting coach] Bruce [Fields] on staying back. I
really was thinking right-center and he hung it. Hit it pretty good."
The ball hit just below Hal Newhouser's name and retired number along the
wall in left-center. One member of the press box jokingly asked the last time
anyone had homered off of Newhouser, who last gave up one as a pitcher in
1954.
An accurate distance reading wasn't available, but considering the flagpole
in the same vicinity is a 436-foot shot, rough estimates put the home run at
445-450 feet. A similar home run from Juan Gonzalez five years ago measured
450 feet. Eric Munson set Comerica Park's distance record with his 457-foot
walk-off homer against the Diamondbacks last June.
Teammates thought White's home run could've traveled even farther.
"I'll tell you what," Johnson said. "I thought that was going over the fence
[above the wall]. I thought it was going to go to the statues."
Added Bobby Higginson: "I would've liked to see where that would've landed on
Opening Day, because with the weather being the way it was Opening Day, I
think it had a chance to go over the railing."
None of the Tigers' seventh-inning hits soared half as far, but they
collectively took the competitiveness out of the game. Three Royals relievers
pitched in the inning, and Detroit batted around despite a leadoff groundout.
Brandon Inge's ground-ball single up the middle started a string of four
consecutive hits and seven straight Tigers to reach base safely.
The only play that scored multiple runs wasn't a hit. Second baseman Tony
Graffanino fielded a ground ball from White but threw short to the bag while
trying to start a double play, allowing Guillen and Ivan Rodriguez to score.
Johnson (1-0), who had been initially tabbed to start Opening Day before
manager Alan Trammell chose Jeremy Bonderman last week, made his season debut
look much like last year's opener against Toronto -- efficient and effective.
He retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced, then battled before being
pulled at 76 pitches.
In a sign of how far his command and mechanics have progressed since the
spring, two of his four strikeouts came on called third strikes. One was on a
3-2 pitch to Graffanino, a day after his four-hit game. Better than
two-thirds of Johnson's pitches went for strikes.
"It was one of those games where everything felt really good," Johnson said.
"I hope to feel like that every day on the mound."
Johnson was pulled for right-hander Kyle Farnsworth once Angel Berroa singled
with two outs in the seventh, the third hit off Johnson out of the final six
batters he faced. Farnsworth's only pitch of the game induced an
inning-ending fielder's choice from John Buck.
"I wanted to have Buck have a different look with Farnsworth," Trammell said.
"And then we go ahead and get six runs. I was expecting it to be a 1-0 game
and go to [Ugueth] Urbina and [Troy] Percival. But this early in the year,
they've had two days off, and I wanted them to continue to get regular work."
Without a revamped bullpen, Trammell admitted, it would've been a "good
possibility" that he would've left Johnson in the game. Johnson will trade
the extra pitches for some steady relief.
"That's why we have guys such as Farnsworth and Percival," Johnson said.
"Everybody that we have out there, that's what their job is."
Rondell White helped make Johnson's job a little easier.
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