On Wednesday night, the Tribe exchanged a series of blows with the Tigers, but could not finish them off in a 6-5 loss in 14 innings at Progressive Field. In what has been billed as the most important series of the summer, Cleveland has fallen short and now sits one game away from a discouraging sweep of this four-game series with Detroit.
The Tribe rolled out highly touted pitching prospect Danny Salazar, took a lead in the seventh on Nick Swisher’s RBI double and battled back after Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera took the air out of the stadium with a towering go-ahead home run in the eighth inning. The bullpen kept Cleveland close with a string of zeros, but finally buckled as the marathon dragged deep into the night.
“They all hurt,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “But when you go this far, you go that deep into a game, use up your bullpen, it’s a little more fresh five minutes after the game. But, they all hurt.”
The Tigers — winners of 11 straight — now lead the Tribe by six games in the American League Central, and improved to 12-3 against the Indians this season.
The game’s decisive turn came in the 14th inning, when reliever Bryan Shaw took the hill for his third inning of work. The right-hander surrendered a leadoff double to Austin Jackson, issued a one-out walk to Hernan Perez and left Marc Rzepczynski to face slugger Prince Fielder. Detroit’s first baseman then sliced a pitch to the wall in left-center field for a double, pushing the Indians behind, 6-4.
“My job is to come in there and get Prince out,” Rzepczynski said. “He knew a slider was coming and I left it up. He did his job.”
Michael Bourn delivered a run-scoring double with two outs in the 14th inning, but that is where Cleveland’s comeback bid ended.
Over the past three nights, the Indians have absorbed a series of blows.
Alex Avila hit a decisive three-run home run off Indians closer Chris Perez in the ninth inning on Monday. One day later, Indians rotation leader Justin Masterson coughed up five runs — three on a homer from Don Kelly — in a game-changing fifth inning. On Wednesday, it was Cabrera’s turn to drop Cleveland to its knees with a go-ahead two-run home run off Salazar in the eighth.
The blast spoiled another impressive showing from Salazar.
Salazar was initially announced as a spot starter for Wednesday’s game, but that changed drastically on Tuesday, when the Indians (62-52) lost starter Corey Kluber to a right middle finger injury for at least four-to-six weeks. While Kluber is sidelined, Salazar will be given a chance to fill the vacancy within the starting staff.
If his outing against the Tigers (67-45) is any indication, Salazar could be up to the challenge.
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