By: Trevor Hooth
Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler was reinstated from the 10-day disabled list before the series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. He hit in the leadoff spot his first game back.
When the bottom of the first rolled around, Kinsler was set to square off against Angels starter Jesse Chavez. With the wind blowing out, the Kinsler made just enough contact to fly out shy of the warning track in center field. He would find the same result in his fourth at-bat.
In the third inning, Kinsler made a solid connection driving the ball to the left center field gap where it landed, then bounced high over the fence for a ground-rule double. He also added a walk to his stat line in the ninth inning.
It was a game that the Tigers offense struggled to hit with runners in scoring position, and ended in a 5-3 loss. When Kinsler came up in the sixth inning, there was a runner on second, but he was only able to hit a weak ground ball to the second baseman to end the inning.
After some time off, a few bad swings are expected. That is what happened in his first at-bat, and on the groundout. In both instances his swing looked slow and he made contact outside of the barrel towards the handle of the bat.
The good news is that he was not fooled by any pitches, and he was not blown away by the speed of a fastball. Those are the signs of a hitter who is going to take time to reach their top level of play again. Kinsler is back and ready to play.
He showed aggressiveness early in the count in every at-bat, except for his ninth inning walk. He swung at good pitches, too. It never felt like he was chasing, or swinging at pitches he could not handle at the plate.
All in all, it was a positive result for Kinsler for his first game back. Prior to the injury he was only hitting .239, so to come back and be able to drive ball in a couple at-bats is a positive sign that he will come back stronger than before.
Facing an Angels lineup that is missing star centerfielder Mike Trout, this series is still winnable. Tonight, the five runs scored by Los Angeles came off of the strength of two home runs by Kole Calhoun and C.J. Cron, along with a run scoring when Alex Presley made an error in centerfield.
In recent games, the Tigers have been very successful offensively. In the series opener, the Tigers had eight hits. With the return of Kinsler, the Tigers will look to make a run at leading a weak American League Central Division.
Trevor Hooth is from Farmington, Connecticut. He is a senior Communication major at Millikin University, where also plays baseball.