The series opening marathon ended in the 14th inning not long after I posted my in-game update. David Pauley hit a batter with the bases loaded to force in the winning run. He took the loss in his first Tiger decision, to fall to 5-5 on the season. Detroit's bullpen went 11.1 innings and gave up 1 run on 3 hits. Pauley was the 8th Tiger pitcher. Luckily for the rest of the series, Cleveland's bullpen was just as spent as Detroit's, if not worse. Neither starting pitcher returned after a third inning rain delay that went almost 2 hours.
Don Kelly drove in a run, as did Austin Jackson on an 0-6 night. Cleveland won 3-2. That kinda hurts when your pitching gives up 7 hits in 14 innings but you can't win.
On Saturday, Cleveland rolled 10-3. They hit Rick Porcello around for 8 runs on 11 hits in 3.2 innings pitched. He fell to 11-7 on the season. David Pauley got hit around some more, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits in 2.2 innings of work. So far he hasn't been the stellar reliever that he was in Seattle.
Ryan Raburn had an RBI triple, and Wilson Betemit had a 2-run double for Detroit.
In the series finale Sheriff Justin Verlander restored some order to Tigertown. He gave up 3 runs on 3 hits in 7 innings, while striking out 10. He became the Majors' first 17 game winner, and is 17-5 on the season. Joaquin Benoit struck out 2 in the 8th to setup Jose Valverde's 1-2-3 9th for his 33rd save. He now holds the Tigers longest in-season save streak, as well as the longest consecutive save streak in team history.
Detroit's offense did just enough to win 4-3. Alex Avila and Wilson Betemit supplied RBI singles. Magglio Ordonez had a sac fly, and Austin Jackson executed a suicide squeeze to drive in a run.
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