In what may have been one of the single most exciting baseball games of the 2012 MLB season, the Detroit Tigers literally stunned the Cleveland Indians on Sunday afternoon with an improbable 10-8 comeback win in 10 innings.
Things looked especially bleak for the Tigers' chances at a three-game sweep right away in extra innings, as reliever Joaquin Benoit promptly served up back-to-back homers to Travis Hafner and Ezequiel Carrera. Another RBI double soon thereafter gave Cleveland a three-run lead that appeared massive as closer Chris Perez entered in the bottom half eyeing a save.
But after quickly recording a pair of outs, Perez walked two straight batters and then was promptly smacked for a RBI double by leadoff hitter Austin Jackson that cut the deficit to two. In his bid to keep the magic going, No. 2 hitter Omar Infante then stepped to the plate and slapped a blooper to center that plated both runners and inexplicably tied the score.
Knowing that he could end the game with one swing of the bat, Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera finally settled on a perfectly-located Perez fastball to absolutely crush into the bullpen in left, with a blast that virtually every soul in the stadium knew was gone upon first contact.
After pulling the rug out of their rivals and handing them their ninth consecutive loss in the process, the Tigers are now 58-50 overall and have won four straight games. Jim Leyland will hope that his squad can keep things going on Monday as they kick off a four-game set with the New York Yankees.
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