Tribe takes the advantage in battle of the Central frontrunners

The big series to watch this week was the Indians vs. Tigers in Detroit. The Tribe leaves with two out of three, along with a two, and a half game lead in the Central Division. The much-anticipated match up has left the Indians feeling good about taking the central division. It left the baseball enthusiasts with one of those series we all live for. Game one featured a pitching duel won by Jurrjens (1-1) who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning when Peralta hit his 18th homer. In total Tigers pitching gave up just that one hit that night. Carmona (14-8) took the loss despite pitching a complete game, and only allowing two runs.

Game two featured a batting duel this time, the runs the Tribe couldn’t muster up in game one came out in a game 2 victory of 11-8. All together the Tribe put up five extra base hits. Normally steady Verlander (13-5) was shelled, and chased in the fourth after giving up seven runs. The Tigers Pen faired a little better, but not much, the runs that Detroit recovered were lost by the pen. Byrd (12-5) took the win giving up six runs himself; he was chased in the fifth inning leaving it to the bullpens. Cleveland won that battle, and the game.

Game three was back the pitching duel, which had to be decided in extra innings, and once again the relievers would deiced the outcome. Once again the Tribes pen would win that battle. This game had 9 very tense innings, which had fans from both teams on edge, knowing that the next run was huge in this critical series. In the tenth the Tribe put 3 up on the board. The Tigers would counter, but only came up with one run leaving the battle of the Central frontrunners to the tribe with the series win, and the lead in the division. Game three was like the Movie “Major League” where the Tribe struggled till the last minuet, then rallied late.

The two teams will take each other on again in a three game set in Cleveland where I’m sure the Tribe will still be fighting the Tigers for the AL Central lead. Cleveland holds a 9-6 advantage in the season series so far, giving them the lead in the division just from the head to head matches with Detroit. Detroit will be looking to take that back.

Toronto does not play Cleveland again this year. There is one make up day from a rain out that the Jays, and Tigers will play on the 10th of September.

See you tomorrow for the weekly Bird Watching, where I will evaluate the Jays week.