LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers already had a Grapefruit League victory well in hand on Sunday when Joe Jimenez entered to face the Braves for the ninth inning. Still, what Jimenez did to finish the 6-3 win was impressive.
Not only did Jimenez retire the Braves in order, he struck out the side while facing relatively experienced hitters, getting a called third strike on Charlie Culberson before fanning Ryan Schimpf and Rob Brantly. The right-hander's fastball reached 96 mph on the Joker Marchant Stadium radar gun, while his slider continued to show the improvement he had been working on since changing his grip with advice from new pitching coach Chris Bosio.