For the second straight game to the Cleveland Indians, the Tigers left 10 runners on base and lost by a pair of runs, 4-2.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead after Andy Dirks doubled in Quintin Berry after Berry picked up his first Major League hit on a bunt double. Dirks later scored on a fielder's choice to put the Tigers up 2-0 in the sixth. But that lead did not last long, as Doug Fister gave up a two-run blast to Travis Hafner in the bottom of the sixth to tie things up.
The Tigers had plenty of opportunities to regain the lead after Hafner's homer, but left the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, they had Miguel Cabrera up with two outs and he appeared to walk on a 3-0 pitch, but it was called a strike, much to the chagrin of just about everyone affiliated with the Tigers, including hitting coach Lloyd McClendon, who was ejected the next half. Cabrera would ground out to second on the very next pitch to end the inning.
In the eighth, the Tigers had bases loaded with no outs, but the Indians escaped yet again. Jhonny Peralta struck out, Ramon Santiago grounded into a force out at home and the pinch-hitting Alex Avila struck out looking to leave everyone stranded where they were three batters before.
In the home half, the Indians scored the winning pair of runs on a bad throw of a fielder's choice from Prince Fielder and a sac fly off Phil Coke. The Tigers went in order in the ninth to Chris Perez, who picked up his 15th save of the season.
Justin Verlander is here to save the Tigers from a series sweep on Thursday with first pitch slated for 12:05 p.m. ET.
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