Friday, April 18, 2014

Game of the Day (4/17/14)

Tigers 7, Indians 5. Cleveland sent Danny Salazar to the mound for his thirteenth career start. Detroit answered with Justin Verlander, who has more than 10 times that many wins (and has won at least that many games in 7 of the last 8 seasons, and nearly doubled it once). Not what you'd call an even pitching matchup.

The apparent mismatch did not materialize in the early going, however. The two starters both faced the minimum through two innings, with Verlander walking Michael Bourn in the first but erasing him on a Jason Kipnis double play ball. Cleveland put four runners on against the Tiger ace in the top of the third - David Murphy walked, Lonnie Chisenhall and Bourn both singled, and Nick Swisher walked - but Yan Gomes hit into a double play after Murphy's free pass, meaning that the three subsequent baserunners merely loaded them without forcing anyone in.

Salazar finally allowed the first Tiger of the day to reach in the bottom of the third when Rajai Davis singled, then stranded him at first. Cleveland seized the game's initial lead in the top of the fourth when Asdrubal Cabrera laid down a bunt single that was exacerbated by Verlander's throwing error; Murphy followed with a single that scored the runner from second. Another Cabrera scored in the bottom of the inning, as Detroit's Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez hit singles, and Austin Jackon added a sacrifice fly that brought the lead runner in from third with the tying run.

And then came the fifth inning, in which the game became utterly unrecognizable in comparison to the first four. Chisenhall led off the top of the inning with a single, and Bourn took his place at first via a forceout. One out later, Mike Aviles reached on a Nick Castellanos error to put runners at the corners. Aviles stole second, Carlos Santana walked to load the bases, and Michael Brantley singled to bring home a pair of unearned runs and take a 3-1 lead.

That lead was quickly rendered temporary. Salazar walked both Alex Avila and Alex Gonzalez to start the bottom of the fifth, and one out later, Ian Kinsler homered to put the Tigers in front 4-3. Torii Hunter singled, Detroit's Cabrera doubled, and Martinez was intentionally walked to load the bases. Austin Jackson hit a sac fly to make it 5-3 and send Salazar to the clubhouse. Cleveland relieved with CC Lee (I'm sure I'm far from the first person to notice the fact his name hybridizes the two exceptional lefties the Indians traded 5 and 6 years ago, respectively, but it begs to be mentioned); the reliever reloaded the bases with a walk to Castellanos, but retired Avila to bring the inning to a merciful end.

Phil Coke relieved Verlander in the sixth and retired Murphy and Bourn. In between those two outs, Gomes reached on a Gonzalez error and Chisenhall singled. Al Alburquerque thus came on to coax a flyout from Swisher to preserve the lead, and said lead increased in size in the bottom of the sixth when Davis was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw by Lee, and scored on a Kinsler single. Blake Wood took over for Lee at that point, and Kinsler stole second, but was then caught stealing third, cutting off any additional scoring.

Cleveland narrowed the gap in the seventh, as Aviles walked and stole second against Alburquerque, and Ian Krol took the mound and allowed a two-run homer to Brantley. Cleveland's Cabrera picked up an infield hit, but Krol and Joba Chamberlain combined to strand him. Bryan Shaw worked a 1-2-3 seventh, and Chamberlain permitted a Chisenhall single in the eighth, but eluded damage when Bourn hit into a force and was then caught stealing. (You might call this a delayed double play.)

Detroit picked up some insurance in the bottom of the eighth when Castellanos singled, pinch runner Andrew Romine went to third on a steal-and-error, and Davis singled to bring him home. The padding of the lead proved unnecessary when Joe Nathan retired the Indians in order in the ninth to nail down the win.

The lead changes in this game were swift and sharp, but they also mostly came in the middle innings rather than the late ones, which limits their impact somewhat and renders the game merely very good rather than extraordinary. In individual news, Kinsler had his twelfth career 4 RBI game; he has never had more than 4 RBI, which makes me wonder what the record is for most times a player has tied his career high in a simple measure like that without setting a new one.

In the other lineup, the Indians had the oddity of hitting their DH ninth, which would generally seem to suggest that you are using the wrong player there. (I would expect that DH - Chisenhall, in this case - to at least be a better defensive third baseman than Carlos Santana, for starters.) Chisenhall lived up to his position rather than his lineup spot by posting the first four-hit game of his career; of course, since he was hitting ninth, those four hits produced no runs or RBI (although Bourn once forced him out and then scored).

So it's terrific pitching in the early going and a slugfest late, with a player on each side having a banner day. I'm thinking the fans went home happy (albeit partly because the home team won).

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