One of the biggest series of the season so far kicked off on Tuesday with the Cleveland Indians heading to Detroit to take on The Tigers in the first of a three game series. With Paul Byrd taking the mound, the Indians won yet again, for the 6th game in a row and pushed their AL Central lead to 3 games, as they took down the Tigers 5-4 in 11 innings.
The game winning run came off of the Tigers newest acquisition, Jose Capellan in the 11th as Casey Blake hit a solo home run to give the Indians the lead for good. Indians closer Joe Borowski got his 25th save for the team as he continues to be a strong, solidifying presence at the back-end of the bullpen.
The Indians got some clutch work from their top reliever and one of the best in baseball this season, Rafael Betancourt, who gave the Indians 2 scoreless IP dropping his impressively low ERA even further to 1.19 on the year. Compared to last season, the Indians bullpen has been an answer to prayer for the Indians front office, performing on a far more consistent basis, as shown by the fact that the Indians are so hot right now and leading their extremely tough division.
On the other side of the diamond, the Tigers are still having issues and are falling dangerously behind the streaking Tribe. The Tigers have now dropped 7 of their past 9 at home in Comerica, and could really use another hot streak. Despite the arrival of Capellan, another reliever or two is likely on the way to Motown to try and help salvage the fledgling Tigers bullpen.
The game winning run came off of the Tigers newest acquisition, Jose Capellan in the 11th as Casey Blake hit a solo home run to give the Indians the lead for good. Indians closer Joe Borowski got his 25th save for the team as he continues to be a strong, solidifying presence at the back-end of the bullpen.
The Indians got some clutch work from their top reliever and one of the best in baseball this season, Rafael Betancourt, who gave the Indians 2 scoreless IP dropping his impressively low ERA even further to 1.19 on the year. Compared to last season, the Indians bullpen has been an answer to prayer for the Indians front office, performing on a far more consistent basis, as shown by the fact that the Indians are so hot right now and leading their extremely tough division.
On the other side of the diamond, the Tigers are still having issues and are falling dangerously behind the streaking Tribe. The Tigers have now dropped 7 of their past 9 at home in Comerica, and could really use another hot streak. Despite the arrival of Capellan, another reliever or two is likely on the way to Motown to try and help salvage the fledgling Tigers bullpen.
If they can’t bring in the help, they’d better hope that Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney can make their way back to the bullpen here soon, as Cleveland isn’t showing any signs of weakness as they pump up the gap. With two games left in this series, the Indians could be up by 5 by the end of this series, not the way Jim Leyland wanted to hit the All-Star break.
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