Player of the Game
Michael Brantley provided most of the offense for the Tribe tonight and for that he wins the Player of the Game. Brantley had three separate RBI singles providing almost half of the Indians scoring.
Feathers Up
The Indians two out magic struck again tonight in the first inning. After the first two Indians hitters struck out looking (on balls that were far off the plate), the Indians strung together three straight hits off a Justin Verlander who has been struggling of late. A double by Asdrubal Cabrera set up the score and Michael Brantley knocked him in.
The Indians added some thunder to their bats prior to the rain delay in the bottom of the 5th inning. Asdrubal Cabrera started the inning with a double (his 2nd of the game), then Michael Brantley singled in Mike Aviles (who ran for Cabrera). Carlos Santana topped it all off with a 2-run home run. This still left the Indians down by 4 going into the hour delay.
Lou who? Yan Gomes is proving that he should permanently be a part of the big league squad. Tonight, Gomes hit his 5th home run in just his 18th game of the season. He is currently tied for 5th on the team in home runs.
Milestone Update: Carlos Santana hit a benchmark with his 250th career walk. This is impressive as there are less than 60 Indians ever to walk 250 times and Santana did so in just 383 games, less than any player in Indians history that had more than 200 walks in their career. He ranks behind only Jim Thome with .65 walks per game so far in his career.
Feathers Down
The Ubaldo Jimenez of old (or a month ago) made a brief appearance tonight in the first inning, and again in the 3rd. He had the same issue as in the past when he went to the stretch after the first hitter and subsequently allowed another two hits before Victor Martinez hit a hard line drive that went for a sacrifice fly, scoring the second Tigers run. He was able to strike out the next hitter and settle down after, retiring the next seven hitters, until the 3rd inning, when he gave up a couple doubles and walks, resulting in 4 more runs for the Tigers.
After the 2nd rain delay, the Tigers caught a huge break when a ball deflected off the glove of Michael Bourn and bounced about 3 feet up to go over the fence for a Miguel Cabrera home run in the 8th inning.
Final Score: Cleveland Indians 7 – Detroit Tigers 11
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