I said we should not expect much from Mark Prior right away, but I did expect a litle more than than what he gave us in the 1st inning today. Prior had trouble locating his fastball in the inning, which he did get up to 92mph, but more importantly did not have a functional curveball. That allowed the Tigers to sit on Prior's hittable fastball. The result was a Ruschian 3 home runs allowed, leading to 6 Tiger runs (one of which was unearned, resulting from a Prior error).

Prior then started throwing a good curveball, holding the Tigers at bay in the 2nd and 3rd innings. But then another 2-run home run allowed in the 4th -- on a fastball -- ended his day.

In this his 98th career start, this is the third time Prior has allowed 6 or more runs in an inning. The other two times were both at Minute Maid Park against the Houston Astros. On May 23, 2003, Prior allowed 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st on 3 hits (including a homer by Jose Vizcaino), a walk, an error, and a fielder's choice that failed to result in an out.

And then on May 1, 2005, Prior allowed 7 runs in the bottom of the 5th. That time, the Astros scored on a grand slam from Mike Lamb and a 3-run homer from Adam Everett.