Indians P Chris Perez threw a wild pitch past catcher, Lou Marson, allowing Carlos Guillen to score the winning run from 3rd in a wild 9-8 game this afternoon at the CoPa. The Tigers offense was the story of the day, for both good and bad reasons. They racked up 18 hits and 10 walks, but also left 18 runners on base. Phil Coke picked up the win after pitching a scoreless 9th inning.
Ace Justin Verlander had a rough first inning, giving up 5 runs and throwing over 40 pitches. Travis Hafner continued a strong series with another RBI on a sacrifice fly, and Luis Valbuena hit a hanging JV fastball into the right field bullpen for a grand slam. Verlander calmed down afterward, only giving up 2 hits and a walk through his next 4 innings of work. Eddie Bonine came into the game in the 6th and immediately gave up a home run to Jhonny Peralta to give the Indians their largest lead of the game, 7-1. Bonine gave up a solo HR to Shin-Soo Choo in the 7th inning, then pitched a perfect 8th inning before Coke finished the job in the 9th.
The Tigers had perhaps the most frustrating 9 run, 18 hit day in the history of baseball by finding plenty of ways to squander opportunities to cut into the Cleveland lead. Carlos Guillen led the team with a whopping 7 runners left on base, but he also came through when it counted (more on that later). The Tags picked up a run in the 5th inning on a Miguel Cabrera RBI single before Peralta’s homer in the 6th. Magglio Ordonez singled in two runs in the 6th, Scott Sizemore picked up an RBI double in the 7th, and Brandon Inge and Razor Ramon Santiago plated two more runs in the 8th to bring the Tigers within 2 runs, 8-6.
9TH INNING
After Phil Coke disposed of the Injuns in the top of the 9th, the Tigers came to the plate with the heart of their order coming up. Ryan Raburn grounded out to short before Magglio singled to left. Miggy Smalls drew his third walk of the game before Guillen delievered (as previously mentioned) with an RBI double down the right field line, bringing the score to 8-7. Inge grounded out to deep short on a great play by Asdrubal Cabrera, then Santiago walked to load the bases. Johnny Damon, hitting for Gerald Laird, drew a four-pitch walk to tie it before Perez’s wild pitch ended the game.
IT’S A WALK OFF:
Listen to your buddy, Billy Zane. He’s a cool dude:
PATIENCE AT THE PLATE
Tigers hitters drew 22 walks in the 3-game series with the Indians, bringing their season total to 30. Their patience is paying off too; the Tigers are 1st in the AL and 3rd in the MLB in runs scored. Their +13 run differential is also tops in the American League.
LOOK AT THE ROOKS
Both Austin Jackson and Scott Sizemore had great games for the Tigers. Jackson went 2-for-4 and walked twice, scoring one run on Cabrera’s RBI single in the 5th. He also stole his second base of the season in the first inning. Jackson has also been impressive in center field this year. He hasn’t had any Web-Gem-caliber plays since gunning down Jason Kendall on Opening Day, but his ability to get to a ball quickly has been noted by fans. There were multiple times in this series where his quick reads on base hits kept Indian hitters to singles instead of doubles (or more).
Sizemore had the breakout game Tigers fans have been waiting for, going 3-for-5 with the aforementioned RBI double. He scored his only run of the day on Magglio’s RBI single in the 6th inning. Sizemore has also been solid in the field, making the double-play turn at 2nd base look easy with both Adam Everett and Razor Ramon at shortstop.
AROUND THE CENTRAL
The White Sox beat the Twins 5-4 today, giving the Tigers a half-game lead in the AL Central. The Royals trail the Red Sox 8-6 in the bottom of the 8th as I type. I’ll update the score and standings later.
UPDATE: The Sox-Royals game ended at 8-6, putting KC at 2-4 when they roll into Detroit tomorrow. Check the standings below. (click for larger image)
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