It was another 1 run win for Detroit. Brad Penny gave up 1 run on 8 hits in 6.1 innings pitched. He leveled his record at 9-9 on the season. The bullpen was in plenty of jams but escaped. Ryan Perry retired Evan Longoria in the 7th inning with the bases loaded after Daniel Schlereth got into trouble. Phil Coke picked up a 2 inning, 5 strikeout, 51 pitch save as Jim Leyland wanted to rest both Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde tonight.
Around the strikeouts Coke gave up a double in each inning. In each inning Jim Leyland decided to intentionally walk the next batter to put runners at first and second. In the 9th that was Longoria again, which is understandable. The runners in the 9th moved up to second and third after a wild pitch, but Coke finally induced a groundout on a full count pitch after a 10 pitch at-bat to seal the 2-1 victory.
Alex Avila delivered an RBI single in the 7th, and Jhonny Peralta followed that with a sac fly to give Brad Penny just enough support. Avila was 2-4 with a double as well. He's now hitting around .430 for the month of August. I guess Jim Leyland knew something when he said he wasn't worried about Avila's 1 RBI month of July.
Victor Martinez also added a double for the Tigers, who had only 8 hits, but did just enough.
The win coupled with Cleveland splitting a doubleheader with Seattle tacked another game on Detroit's division lead. They now lead both the White Sox and the Indians by 6. Both teams are at .500 on the season.
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