On Sunday, Lonnie Chisenhall’s sweet swing offered precisely that to his team and to this city, which has witnessed a two-month stumble down the standings. Chisenhall’s bases-loaded single off Tigers closer Jose Valverde in the ninth inning propelled the Tribe to a 7-6 walk-off victory and an on-field party.
“It’s about time we did that,” Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez said with a wide smile. “It’s really exciting, especially after the kind of season that we’ve been through.”
The win was only the second in the past nine games for the Indians (61-86), who have collected just 11 victories in their past 48 contests. Cleveland has won two of its past four games when trailing after eight innings — this after opening the year with a 1-75 ledger in such scenarios.
Jimenez paved the way to the win column with six solid innings, giving the offense enough time to scratch and claw and claim a 5-3 lead over that span. Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera needed just one swing — a three-run home run off sidearmer Joe Smith in the seventh — to erase all that hard work.
While Cabrera circled the bases, a section of visiting fans rose to their feet and joined together in loud chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P! It would be hard to moan that their cries were without merit, given it was Cabrera’s 38th home run of the year and it clearly swung momentum Detroit’s way.
“Miguel is just flat-out the best hitter in the game to me,” Indians manager Manny Acta said.
Still, despite the circumstances, the Indians were feeling optimistic.
“Coming into the ninth, for some reason, we felt pretty good about our chances,” Acta said. “We had the right people up at the plate.”
Cleveland’s rally began with second baseman Jason Kipnis, who drilled a pitch from Valverde to deep center field for a leadoff double. Two batters later, Carlos Santana sent an offering bouncing off the glove of Detroit’s Don Kelly, and then the right-field wall for a run-scoring triple that pulled the game into a 6-6 deadlock.
At that juncture, the Tigers (77-68) opted to intentionally walk both Michael Brantley and Ezequiel Carrera to load the bases, setting up a potential double play in all directions. While Chisenhall awaited his appearance in the on-deck circle, Acta jokingly jabbed at Detroit’s strategy.
“I yelled at him,” said Acta, referring to Chisenhall. “I said, ‘That’s disrespectful. Come on. Do something.’ He just laughed about it. It’s something they had to do strategy wise.”
The Tigers had had plenty of plays backfire on them already.
Three controversial calls at first base between the fifth and sixth innings paved the way for three Cleveland runs. First-base umpire Brian Knight kept busy, listening to an assortment of heated arguments from Detroit starter Rick Porcello, first baseman Prince Fielder and manager Jim Leyland.
Only Leyland got the boot.
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