Recap: Detroit vs. Cleveland
Sports Network | August 25, 2008
Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Franklin Gutierrez drove in the game-winning run for the second straight night, blasting a 10th inning homer to give the Indians their eighth straight victory, a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a three-game set at Comerica Park.
Gutierrez lifted the Indians to their seventh straight win Sunday night on a ninth-inning RBI against the Texas Rangers. He finished Monday's game 2-for-4.
Grady Sizemore had his sixth career multi-homer game, hitting two homers in the first three innings. Andy Marte added two hits in the victory.
Zach Jackson threw his second career quality start and first since 2006, allowing three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out a career-high seven without giving out a free pass.
Brendan Donnelly (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth to earn the win, while Jensen Lewis threw a 1-2-3 10th for his seventh save of the year. Lewis' seven consecutive saves are a Cleveland season-high.
Armando Galarraga failed to get a win for the first time in four starts despite pitching well, throwing seven innings and giving up three runs and eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Gary Glover (1-3) got the loss after giving up the home run in the 10th.
Marcus Thames and Edgar Renteria homered, and Brandon Inge drove in the other run for the Tigers, losers of three out of five.
Casey Fossum took over on the mound for the Tigers in the 10th and got Sizemore to pop out for the first out. Glover was brought in and immediately gave up a go-ahead homer to Gutierrez to give Cleveland a 4-3 lead.
In the home half of the 10th, Placido Polanco drove a Lewis pitch deep to the edge of the warning track in left, but Gutierrez made the catch for the first out. Magglio Ordonez grounded out weakly to second, and Miguel Cabrera grounded out to third to end the game.
Sizemore got the Indians on the board in the first, hitting a lead-off home run. Thames' two-out blast in the second tied the game at one.
Sizemore got the lead back for Cleveland, hitting his second homer of the game to lead off the third.
Cleveland gained a 3-1 advantage in the fourth when Ryan Garko hit an RBI single to score Shin-Soo Choo, who began the inning with a double.
The Tigers climbed to within one when Renteria led off the fifth with his eighth home run of the season.
Detroit tied the game off Masahide Kobayashi in the seventh. Thames hit a one- out single against Jackson, ending his start. Kobayashi came in and, after allowing Thames to go to second on a wild pitch, allowed an infield single to put runners on the corners.
Thames came up lame while running to third and was replaced by Matt Joyce on the bases. Inge hit another infield single for the Tigers, allowing Joyce to score.
The Tigers put runners on second and third with two outs in the eighth, but Joyce flied out to end the threat.
Detroit leads the season series 7-6...Sizemore has 31 home runs and 34 stolen bases this season, becoming the 14th AL player all-time and the first player this year to post 30 of each statistic. Alfonso Soriano was the last AL player to accomplish the feat, hitting 30/30 in 2005 for Texas. The center fielder also became the second Indians player ever to do it, with the other being Joe Carter in 1987..Cleveland activated pitcher Matt Ginter from the 15-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Buffalo...Tigers infielder Carlos Guillen left the game in the fifth with back spasms. Thames left in the fifth with a left calf cramp. Both are listed as day-to-day.
