| Detroit Tigers sweat out sweep of Cleveland Indians |
| By Jason Behr August 22, 2011 It was broom sweeping time down at Comerica Park this Sunday afternoon, as the Detroit Tigers completed a 3 game sweep of the Cleveland Indians. The Indians came into town a mere 1.5 games behind the division leading Tigers and leave town 4.5 games down, giving the Tigers their biggest lead of the season, while being a season high 10 games over 500. This weekend is all the more remarkable considering their CY Young Award winner and possible MVP candidate, Justin Verlander didn’t pitch in any of these games. The Tigers led off Friday night with Max Scherzer pitching a solid 7 innings and only surrendering 1 earned run while the Tigers got 2 late runs in both the 6th and 7th innings to get things off to a nice start with a 4-1 win for the home crowd. This weekend also saw the return of 2 erstwhile starters in Brandon Inge and Magglio Ordonez on Saturday night as the Tigers routed the Indians 10- 1. Inge returned after being optioned down to Triple A and Ordonez started for the first time since the Tigers acquired Delmon Young. Inge had somewhat of a storybook return on Saturday night hitting a home run in his 1st at bat and following it up with a double the next time up, good for 3 runs batted in (RBI’s) total. Ordonez also chipped in with a RBI and run scored as he went 1 for 3 on the night. Newly acquired pitcher Doug Fister must have thought he was dreaming getting so much run support after getting the worst run support of any started with the Mariners. He pitched a superb 7 innings giving up just 1 lone run and let the unbeatable combination of Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde do what they do best in the 8th and 9th innings respectively. Fister’s start is of particular note when compared to Ubaldo Jimenez’s start on Sunday as both pitchers were just recently acquired, before the non- waiver trade deadline. Fister not only got the win on Saturday but has gone a very respectable 2-2 in essentially the 5th spot of the rotation. Ubaldo meanwhile was brought in to be the Indians top of the rotation starter and he gave up 8 earned runs in just 3.1 innings on Sunday taxing an already over worked Indian bullpen. Overall he has gone just 1-3 for the Indians giving up 17 earned runs in 13 innings in the 3 losses combined. Not a good sign for the Indians as they struggle to keep the Tigers within reach and now find the Chicago White Sox on their heels just a half game back. Sunday’s game had all the looks of another easy blow out win after the Tigers put up a 7 spot in the third inning but this game was far from over. Rick Porcello got through the first 3 innings in great shape putting his poor performance against the Twins in his previous start behind him. But then the 4th inning happened and Carlos Santana led off the inning with a solo home run and then things deteriorated from their. With 2 outs Porcello gave up 4 straight hits all sharply hit which led to another 3 runs on top of the homer. Manager Jim Leyland sensing the urgency of the moment was quick with the hook and pulled Porcello out after just 3.2 innings pitched. The inning ended with the Indians adding 1 more run off reliever Duane Below and to make it a 7-5 game. The Tigers did tack on 1 more run in their half of the inning but that would be all the scoring they would do. The Indians meanwhile continued cutting into the lead, scoring one run in each of the next 2 innings to make it 8-7 going into the bottom of the 6th for the Tigers. In the bottom of that inning with a Wilson Betemit on second base Ramon Santiago attempted to bunt him over to third. It appeared on the replay that Betemit just got in ahead of the tag but was called out by the umpire. He immediately showed his displeasure to the umpire along with the third base coach and manager Jim Leyland wasted no time getting out their to argue the call. About 10 seconds later Leyland got tossed from the game and left to a roaring crowd at Comerica Park. The game finally got to the 9th inning and the fans in Detroit were just waiting to break out the brooms after Mr. Perfect 36 saves in 36 opportunities Jose Valverde took the mound. However, as the saying goes “that is why you play the games”. Valverde got off to a very wild and erratic start walking the first batter he faced in Kosuke Fukudome and hitting Jason Donald on a 0-2 pitch next, and all of a sudden the tying run was at second base. After he was sacrificed to third base all the Indians needed was a sacrifice fly to tie the game and end Valverde’s perfect season. That is when the amazing Austin Jackson, with all of his home run saving over the wall and crashing into the wall catches came into play. Pinch batter Matt Laporta hit a shallow ball to center and Fukudome tagged up and was coming home. Jackson made a perfect throw toAlex Avilla who caught the ball on the fly and tagged out LaPorta to finish the double play and complete the sweep. This let the home crowd depart an awfully happy bunch for the entire weekend. This series had 132,000 plus in attendance for the 3 games, which set a new 3 game weekend series attendance record for the Detroit Tigers. |
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