5 Things for April 17th: Tigers Offense Sputters Against Indians

1. The Tigers bats were silenced by Zach McCallister, who threw six innings of one-hit ball for the Indians as they beat the Tigers 3-2.

The Tigers had a chance to make up some ground in the 8th inning.  With the team trailing 3-1, they had runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out and Torii Hunter at the plate.  Brad Ausmus elected to have Hunter bunt, but Hunter couldn't get it down and got himself in an 0-2 hole.  He then hit into a double play.

They have only played 11 games, but they have been a middle-of-the-pack offense thus far.  Miguel Cabrera is struggling, and Alex Avila looks lost at the plate.  They do not have a left-handed thumper, and have just the 19th best OPS against right-handed pitching.

2. The Pistons fought hard against the Thunder, but could not close them out.  Kevin Durant scored with 16 seconds left to give OKC a 112-111 lead.  Detroit did some good things in this game, and held a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter.  Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a career high 30 points in the absence of Rodney Stuckey.  However, Andre Drummound fouled out with about four minutes left and the Thunder went on a run.

3. The NHL playoffs started last night, and the first game of the playoff season went into overtime.  Montreal beat Tampa Bay 5-4 in a game that was very sloppy defensively, but was pretty entertaining and created some highlight-reel goals.

Pittsburgh came back to beat Columbus 4-3.  Matt Niskanen had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Sutter scored the go-ahead goal about midway through the third period.  Marc-Andre Fleury looked shaky, but appeared to settle down later in the game.

The Ducks ambushed the Stars by scoring three first period goals.  Dallas made it a game, but ended up falling 4-3.

4. Apparently the Lions are serious about trading up in the draft.  There has been massive speculation about their interest in Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins.  Well, yesterday they hosted Jadeveon Clowney according to Kyle Meinke of Mlive.com.  Obviously, Clowney has no chance of being on the board at #10.  Stay tuned.

5. The NBA playoffs are set.  Dallas is the eight seed, and will play the Spurs in the first round. Memphis will play OKC in the 2-7 matchup.  The games start with a quadruple-header on Saturday.