Austin Jackson, Magglio Ordonez Lead Tigers Past Tribe

Cleveland 6, Detroit 12 (box)

The Tigers raced out to a 5-1 lead in support of struggling right hander Rick Porcello, but just as quickly as the offense had given him the lead, the defense took it away.

Cleveland loaded the bases in the fourth on a walk, a hit batsman, and a single, but then the fun began. Brandon Inge‘s error allowed two runs to score then the very next batter grounded a ball to Carlos Guillen, but Guillen couldn’t make a clean trow and another run crossed the plate. Before the inning finally ended, the Indians had taken a 6-5 lead.

That’s when the Tigers redoubled their efforts on offense.

Detroit got a run back to tie the score in the fifth, coming on Inge’s RBI single, one of two hits on the day for Brandon. The Tigers then took the lead in the sixth when Austin Jackson doubled to lead off the inning, his third two-bagger of the game, and came home on a Magglio Ordonez double to make it 7-6 Tigers.

In the seventh, the floodgates opened for the Tigers. With one out, Gerald Laird walked and Adam Everett singled to bring up Jackson. Indians reliever Tony Sipp got Jackson to strikeout on a ball in the dirt, but the pitch got away and Laird raced home ahead of the tag. Another wild pitch moved Everett to third and Don Kelly drew a walk to put runners on the corners with two away.

That’s when Ordonez muscled up and took Sipp deep for a three-run jack. To make matters worse for the Tribe, Miguel Cabrera followed Maggs with a solo shot of his own, his 16th of the year. (…)

Cheers for

• Magglio Ordonez– Maggs belted out three of the Tigers 17 hits including his eighth home run of the year. As a reminder, Maggs hit just nine bombs all of last season. His five RBI day gives him 40 on the season, most among AL outfielders.
• Austin Jackson– AJax made another amazing running catch in the first inning today, then went out and collected four hits, raising his average to .341. This was his second four-hit game which ranks him second in the league in that category.
• Miguel Cabrera– Cabrera drove in two and reach base three times today. He now has 51 RBI on the year already. Say it with me folks, M-V-P.

Jeers for

• Carlos Guillen– Sure Guillen drove in a pair with his two double game, but he also committed two errors and had to leave the game with a toe injury. X-rays were negative and we hope he won’t miss any time.
• Rick Porcello– Again, his defense let him down quite a bit in the fourth, but let’s not forget that he still allowed four earned runs in the six he gave up. Pretty Little Ricky must improve.

In other news

Armando Galarraga brought the lineup card out to a very emotional Jim Joyce prior to the game. Tigers fans greeted Joyce with a muted round of applause, but little booing. Very classy all thing considered. To top it off, General Motors presented Galarraga with a shiny new red Corvette Convertible in recognition of last night performance.