The Cleveland Indians roll against what was once believed to be their primary competition in the AL Central, the Detroit Tigers, continued on Tuesday night with a series opening victory at Comerica Park. Ubaldo Jimenez, after eight days of rest from an incredibly ugly stretch of starts, rebounded with his best showing of the season. He typically stayed ahead of the hitters, hit 97 on the gun at times, and issued just one walk in 6.2 innings. Jimenez gave up an RBI double to Miguel Cabrera in the first inning and it looked like the Tribe was in for another long night, but he settled in beautifully after that retired 11 of next 12 hitters.
On offense, it was one triple after another as the Tribe bats took advantage of the massive outfield at Comerica park and some misjudged balls on the Tigers. Asdrubal Cabrera tied things up in the third by tripling home Shin-Soo Choo. Two innings later, the Indians put together a littler rally against Drew Smyly to take a 3-1 lead. Lou Marson tripled home Lonnie Chisenhall and Choo immediately knocked in Marson with a single up the middle. In their next at bat, it would be MIchael Brantley doing the damage with yet another triple that score Shelley Duncan on a two-out rally.
After an impressive eighth from Vinnie Pestano, Chris Perez came on in the ninth and converted the save, but not without drama. The Tigers got two quick hits off Perez, and it could have been three if not for an amazing barehand grab by Cabrera at shortstop. Detroit added a run on a sac fly but their rally would stall out there, with Perez retiring Ramon Santiago with a little help from a hard-charging and sliding Choo.
The Indians will now look to keep the streak alive against Detroit and clinch the series with Jeanmar Gomez on the mound. Detroit will counter with Max Scherzer.
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