Indians Vs. Tigers Final: Tribe Falls Behind By 7, Then Rallies Only To Lose 8-7

There are two schools of thought about a loss.

One school says that if you’re going to lose, lose a blowout and get it out of your system quickly, as the Tribe did on Saturday when Detroit won 10-1.

The other school says that if you lose, give it your best effort, make it exciting, derive some moral victory from defeat.

After today’s loss, it is hard to find any sense of moral victory from a game that was a blowout after three, got close in the fourth, and became a gut-wrenching affair wherein the tying run was thrown out at the plate to end the game.

After spotting the Tigers a 7-0 lead in the third inning, the Indians battled back, yet at the end found an old and unfriendly trend rearing its ugly head: an inability to get a run in from third with less than two outs.

It all added up to an 8-7 Tigers’ win that completed a sweep and left the Indians 4.5 games out of first place in the Central Division — Cleveland’s largest deficit of the year with only 39 games left to play.

Ubaldo Jimenez had a third-inning meltdown, allowing seven runs in the frame, including two Detroit homers.

But the Tribe struck for five in the fourth, and after Detroit added a run, scored single runs in the fifth and sixth to get within one.

Where, unfortunately, it stayed.

To add insult to injury, a caught-stealing in the Tigers’ fourth that was not called enabled Detroit to have a runner in scoring position, said runner scoring on a single for what turned out to be the game-winning run.

Jimenez fell to 1-1 with Cleveland, working into the fourth inning and allowing eight runs on nine hits.

With that being said, the Tribe bullpen did a splendid job, with Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Tony Sipp combining for 4.2 scoreless innings to give the hitters a chance.

But when Jose Valverde got pinch-hitter Matt LaPorta to fly out to shallow center with one out and runners at second and third in the ninth, Kosuke Fukudome was gunned down at the plate by Austin Jackson to end it, dropping Cleveland to 62-61 on the season, while the Tigers moved 10 games over .500 at 68-58.

The Indians pounded out 13 hits, with four players contributing two each to the attack. Carlos Santana hit his 19th homer of the season in the fourth, although Santana struck out with two on to end the eighth.

The Tribe was not horrible with men in scoring position, going 4-for-13, but unfortunately, in the eighth and ninth, failed in that position, which ultimately decided the ballgame.

Valverde converted his 37th save of the season in as many chances, although it took a perfect throw from Jackson to accomplish it.

Now the Indians come home for 11 games, all against sub-.500 teams. After four games in three days against Seattle, Cleveland will see the Royals next weekend for three before Oakland comes to town for four more.

Frankly, the Tribe needs to go about 8-3 or better on this upcoming homestand. The Tigers are hitting the road to Tampa Bay and Minnesota, and will get two starts from Justin Verlander in the next week before they come home to take on Kansas City. If Detroit could somehow be held to a .500 record while the Indians take 8-of-11 or better, it would still be close with almost 30 games left.

But if the Indians let this homestand pass without gaining ground on the Tigers, it will be getting into “running out of time” mode.

Go Tribe!

Ubaldo Jimenez Is All That Stands Between Detroit And A Sweep Of The Tribe

The Indians went out and acquired Ubaldo Jimenez to help them get over the top and win the American League Central, and today, the Tribe needs him to come through, or Cleveland will leave Detroit further behind than they have been all year.

Of course, Ubaldo could be lights-out, but if the offense cannot produce more than it has in the first two games of this three-game series, it may not matter.

The Tigers will go for a sweep at Comerico Park at 1:05 this afternoon when they send Rick Porcello against an offense that has been held to two runs and only 12 hits in 18 innings this weekend.

Jimenez has the template of having beaten the Tigers on August 10 in Cleveland, when he went eight innings and allowed three runs in a 10-3 Tribe victory. None of those runs were earned, however. Jimenez gave up five hits in that one, walking one and fanning six in what was by far his best outing since coming to the Indians from Colorado.

However, in his two road starts for Cleveland, Jimenez — while avoiding any losses, thanks to the offense — has surrendered nine earned runs and 16 hits in only 9.2 frames of work.

Porcello, meanwhile, was knocked around in that August 10 outing in Cleveland, giving up eight runs and 11 hits in only 3.2 innings. Porcello had another shaky outing against Minnesota in his last start, and although his record is 11-8, his ERA is a high 4.98.

So looking strictly at the pitching matchup today, one would have to say "advantage Indians". Of course, the same could have been said with Josh Tomlin going on Friday and David Huff on the hill yesterday.

We all know how that worked out.

The Indians will return home after today’s game and will open a four-game set to be played over three days against the Seattle Mariners, beginning on Monday night at Progressive Field.

Indians Vs. Tigers Final: No Contest In Detroit As Tigers Romp 10-1

The Indians now are in the position of having to win tomorrow to avoid facing their largest deficit of the season after the Tigers jumped ahead in the first inning and never looked back on their way to a 10-1 victory that puts Detroit ahead by 3.5 games in the AL Central.

David Huff was knocked out of the game in the third inning after his first rough outing of the season. Huff (1-2) gave up five runs in 2.1 frames, and the Tigers added to their lead against Chad Durbin and Frank Herrmann, although in fairness, Durbin’s two runs surrendered were both unearned after an error on left-fielder Michael Brantley in the fifth inning.

The Tribe’s only run of the night came on a third-inning homer from Shin-Soo Choo, who belted his sixth long-ball of the season for the Indians’ only extra-base hit of the night.

Cleveland left nine on base against Doug Fister (5-13) and two relievers, and went 0-for-4 with men in scoring position to pretty much negate their seven hits.

In two games in this series, the Indians have scored two runs on 12 hits, and have only two extra-base hits.

Choo had three hits for the Tribe, while Carlos Santana added two, but truly, there is not much to be said or done about this one except for to file it, forget it, and move on.

On Sunday at 1:05 Ubaldo Jimenez will take on Rick Porcello. The Tribe got Jimenez for just such a need-to-win game, and having defeated the Tigers in Cleveland on August 10, let’s hope that Jimenez can have a repeat and salvage a game in this crucial series.

David Huff Tries To Get Tribe Even In The Series In Detroit On Saturday

• Preview via SB Nation and Sports Network *

(Sports Network) – American League Central rivals continue a critical three- game series at Comerica Park this evening, as the first-place Detroit Tigers host the Cleveland Indians.

Cleveland will give the ball to David Huff for what will be his fourth start of the season. Huff is 1-1 with a 0.51 ERA and didn’t allow an earned run against Boston in his last start back on August 2nd. Huff didn’t figure in the decision of that tilt but certainly deserved a win, especially considering the fact that he only yielded three hits.

Huff has faced Detroit twice in his career and owns a 0-1 record versus the Tigers with a 6.00 ERA.

Slated to oppose Huff is Detroit’s Doug Fister, who is a lowly 4-13 this season despite a solid 3.59 ERA. Fister has only allowed eight home runs in 160 2/3 innings of work thus far, but he has yielded 163 hits. He is undoubtedly eager to get back on the mound today after permitting six earned runs on 12 hits in 5 2/3 innings of work against Baltimore on Sunday.

Fister is 0-1 versus Cleveland this season despite a 2.81 ERA, and he is 0-2 lifetime versus the Indians with a 3.58 ERA.

On Friday, Austin Jackson hit a two-run homer to back seven stellar innings from Max Scherzer, as the Tigers downed the Indians, 4-1, in the opener of this series.

Scherzer (13-7) allowed just one run on five hits and a walk. He fanned six and a established a new career-high for wins in a season.

Alex Avila and Jhonny Peralta hit back-to-back home runs for the Tigers, who hold a 2 1/2-game lead over the Indians for first place in the AL Central.

Jose Valverde tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to record his 36th save of the season.

Miguel Cabrera went 0-for-4, marking the end of his 15-game hit streak.

Josh Tomlin (12-6) lasted 6 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.

Carlos Santana scored the lone run for the Indians, who had won two straight entering the series.

The fact that the Tigers lead their division is somewhat surprising considering the fact that they have allowed more runs (564) than they have scored (555) this season.

Cleveland has won six of 10 from the Tigers this season.

Indians Vs. Tigers Final: Detroit Uses Long-Ball To Dump Cleveland 4-1

In the opener of the biggest series of the season thus far, the Indians forgot to bring their offense to Comerica Park tonight.

Max Scherzer won his 13th game and Jose Valverde saved his 36th game of the season as the Detroit Tigers rode three home runs to a 4-1 victory over the Tribe, increasing the Tigers’ lead to 2.5 games in the AL Central.

Austin Jackson blasted a two-run homer in the sixth off of Josh Tomlin, and Alex Avila and Jhonny Peralta went deep in the seventh after Cleveland had crept within 2-1 in the top half of the inning, and Joaquin Benoit and Valverde each tossed a scoreless frame to wrap it up and give Detroit just their fourth win in ten games vs. the Tribe in 2011.

The Indians were not helped at all by going 0-for-5 with men in scoring position, and were held to five hits — only one for extra bases. Cleveland’s only run scored on a wild pitch, as the bats themselves were shut out.

Tomlin falls to 12-6 with the loss. Josh pitched 6.2 innings and allowed just six hits, but with three of those hits going yard, the damage was too great for the Indians to overcome on this night.

So the Tribe will have another go at the Tigers on Saturday night, when David Huff will try to win his second game of the season against Detroit’s Doug Fister.

A Big-Time Series Begins In Detroit On Friday As Tribe Takes Aim At Division-Leading Tigers

Big-time baseball this weekend in Detroit