Not even a 36-minute rain delay in the second inning could slow down Detroit pitcher Doug Fister on Saturday night from Motown, as the Tigers' right-hander put forth a complete game four-hit victory over the Cleveland Indians, 6-1.
Fister flirted with perfection as he promptly took a perfect game into the sixth inning, but was eventually bested on a triple from the bat of Indians outfielder Ezequiel Carrera with two outs in the frame. The 6-foot-8 righty recovered in a big way soon thereafter to reel off eight scoreless innings, despite serving up one run on a pair of hits to ruin his shutout in the ninth. Fister whiffed six batters and did not walk a single batter in the start, needing just 107 pitches to record 27 outs.
Offensively the Tigers were paced by shortstop Jhonny Peralta, who finished 2-for-4 from the plate with a double, triple and two RBI. Brennan Boesch also put forth a strong 2-for-4 effort to raise his season average to .251 that included his first triple of 2012. With a chance to pull off the three-game sweep of Manny Acta's Indians on Sunday, Detroit will send right-hander Max Scherzer to the hill for game three.
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