Tigers Offense Struggles in a 3-2 Loss

The Detroit Tigers lost to the Cleveland Indians today 3-2.

The Indians took a quick 1-0 lead thanks to an passed ball in the 1st inning, but the Tigers responded in the bottom of the 1st with a leadoff single by Quintin Berry, who stole 2nd base, Miguel Cabrera drew a walk, then Prince Fielder was hit-by-the-pitch to load the bases with 1 out for Delmon Young who hit a single to score Berry and it was a 1-1 game.

The Indians went on to take a 2-1 lead, but the Tigers responded in the 4th inning after a double by Delmon Young, then a single by Brennan Boesch to set up runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs for Jhonny Peralta who hit a single to drive in Young and the Tigers made it a 2-2 game.

Anibal Sanchez did his job today. He pitched 6 innings giving up 2 (unearned) runs on 8 hits, walking 1 and striking out 2 batters.

Darin Downs came in for relief and got the first out of the 7th inning, but was pulled after loading the bases. Hey Jim, is it too much to ask to use your best relievers to start an inning when it's late in a game?

Brayan Villarreal came in and got the final 2 outs, but allowed a run to score in the process and the Tigers were down 3-2. Villarreal came back out and pitched a scoreless 8th inning.

Octavio Dotel came in and got the first out of the 9th inning, but with a runner on 3rd and one out, for some reason, Phil Coke was put in the game, but thanks to a great defensive play by Prince Fielder, Coke got the last 2 outs of the inning.

The Tigers needed a rally in the 9th inning and Prince Fielder led the inning off with a double. Delmon Young of course had an unproductive bad AB, then Brennan Boesch came up and was hit-by-the-pitch after being down 0-2 in the count. Jhonny Peralta came up with runners on 1st and 2nd, but swung at ball 4, then Avila ended the game after a great defensive play by Jason Kipnis.

The Tigers continue their series with the Indians tommorrow as Rick Porcello (9-10 4.57 ERA) goes up against Justin Masterson (10-12 4.91 ERA).

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