Indians Swept by Tigers 11-7

Well, it finally happened. The Indians seem to have finally cooled off thanks in large part to their arch rivals from the Motor City. After last night’s game, an 11-7 beat down that was marred by rain delays and was never really as close as the final score indicated, the Indians have lost two in a row for the first time since back to back losses to the Yankees and Phillies.

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Last night’s game got out of control quickly. Ubaldo Jimenez turned in his first poor pitching performance in four starts. He lasted only 4 innings and gave up 6 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. Adding to the misery, David Huff also gave up three runs in relief and Rich Hill gave up two runs of his own thanks to a bizarre home run by Miguel Cabrera.

Speaking of Cabrera, he continued his hot hitting by homering twice in the series. The first in Tuesday’s game was a titanic shot to center. Last night, Cabrera homered when his line drive to center inexplicably bounced out of Michael Bourn‘s glove and over the center field wall. Sometimes when things are going well freaky things happen. For Cabrera, that homer was certainly as freaky as they come.

As for the Indians, they put up a valiant effort against Justin Verlander, but they just didn’t have enough in the arsenal. Yan Gomes and Carlos Santana both homered, thus adding even more fuel to an already raging fire of debate concerning the Indians use of Gomes moving forward. Michael Brantley also contributed with two RBI singles, one in the first and another in the fifth. Michael Bourn, despite his blunder in the field also contributed offensively by driving in a run and stealing his seventh base of the season.

Perhaps the Indians might have been able to come back last night, but they were ultimately done in by rain delays. The first lasted over an hour and the second more than 45 minutes. The latter delay occurred after the Indians had pulled to within two runs of the Tigers and seemingly had them on the ropes. If they aren’t forced to sit around for 45 minutes waiting to take the field, does Cabrera not homer? Do they manage to pull this game out? It’s an interesting debate of coulda/woulda/shoulda, but alas we will never know the answer.

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The Good: Yan Gomes and Carlos Santana both homered last night. They have become quite the formidable duo behind the plate for the Tribe.

The Bad: Ubaldo Jimenez for the first time in a long time. He had pitched so well heading into yesterday’s game, but it just didn’t seem like he had his A-game. The true test of the process to rediscover Ubaldo Jimenez’s talent will come now in how he rebounds from this poor outing.

The “Huh?”: Ummm… it’s to hard to explain so just watch the video below. It will leave you scratching your head, especially considering Michael Bourn is a gold glove center fielder.