The Detroit Tigers rallied in the seventh inning to support pitcher Doug Fister and his attempt to win four straight games, but the Cleveland Indians answered with a well-executed squeeze play to score the winning run and tag Fister with the 3-2 loss.
After Cleveland starter Ubaldo Jimenez kept the Tigers scoreless through six innings, Detroit third baseman Miguel Cabrera greeted reliever Joe Smith with a two-run homer in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game. Jim Leyland then left his starter in the game for the bottom of the seventh which proved to be one batter too long.
Cleveland DH Travis Hafner slammed a one-out triple to put what would be the winning run on third base. From there Cleveland manager Manny Acta made sure that run would score as left fielder Aaron Cunningham laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score pinch runner Lou Marson.
Fister (4-7) delivered another solid outing but his few mistakes caught up with him on a night when run support was scarce. Fister gave up run-scoring singles to Johnny Damon and Carlos Santana in the second and fourth innings, respectively.
Smith (6-2) ended up with the win on the mound for Cleveland while Chris Perez sat the Tigers down in order in the ninth to record his 28th save of the season.
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak by the Tigers and moved the third place Indians within three games of the Central Division lead behind Detroit with two games remaining in the current series.
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