Anibal Sanchez's struggles were so mighty during a 30-pitch first inning against Kansas City Thursday night, the Detroit Tigers star pitcher had to see them to believe them.
Between his nightmarish start, which included two nine-pitch counts that ended with both hitters’ safely reaching base, and the start of the second inning, Sanchez raced to the team’s clubhouse to review a tape of his performance.
Whatever he detected seemed to work; the man who had gone 3-1 with a 1.60 ERA and a .189 opponents' average in his last five starts was back in the second inning. By the third inning, he was recording his first 1-2-3 frame of the night and between the fifth and seventh inning he struck out five of the six batters he faced.
By night’s end, Sanchez had gone 7.1 innings, allowing just seven hits and one earned run. Three of the seven hits he surrendered also came in that inning as did the only walk he allowed.
"The thing is that today I wasn't really well in the first inning," Sanchez told reporters without offering up any more specific details. "I had the 3-0 count on my first batter. I had to watch some video and it helped me and I made my adjustments."
It didn’t hurt that by the time he came out for the second inning, Sanchez and the Tigers actually found themselves leading the game, courtesy of a Prince Fielder two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning.
"He just got it going," said manager Jim Leyland. "The first inning his control wasn't real, real good. And then he really got it going. He was pinpoint. He was getting ahead of the hitters and towards those last couple innings he was terrific."
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