GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: AL: DETROIT (30-24) at CLEVELAND (34-19)

AL: DETROIT at CLEVELAND

<div class="pre">DETROIT (9) VS CLEVELAND (5) - FINAL

DETROIT ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
C Granderson cf 6 0 1 0 0 1 5 .276
P Polanco 2b 5 2 0 0 1 0 2 .332
G Sheffield dh 5 1 1 0 1 0 3 .261
M Ordonez rf 6 3 4 2 0 1 3 .362
M Thames lf 4 2 1 0 0 1 3 .253
C Monroe lf 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .243
I Rodriguez c 5 1 4 3 0 1 1 .293
S Casey 1b 4 0 1 1 1 0 3 .280
O Infante 3b 4 0 2 2 1 1 3 .324
N Perez ss 5 0 1 0 0 1 5 .167

Totals 45 9 16 9 4 6 28

BATTING: 2B - I Rodriguez 2 (14, C Lee 2); M Thames (5, C Lee); S Casey (12, C
Lee); M Ordonez (28, C Lee); C Monroe (14, R Hernandez); C Granderson (18, A
Fultz). HR - M Ordonez (13, 3rd inning off C Lee 1 on, 1 Out). RBI - O Infante
2 (8), M Ordonez 2 (52), S Casey (14), I Rodriguez 3 (29), C Monroe (34). 2-out
RBI - S Casey, O Infante. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Thames 1,
O Infante 1, N Perez 2, M Ordonez 1, C Granderson 3. Team LOB - 13.

BASERUNNING: SB - O Infante (3, 2nd base off C Lee/V Martinez). CS - I
Rodriguez (2, 3rd base by R Hernandez/V Martinez).

FIELDING: DP: 1 (N Perez-P Polanco-S Casey).


CLEVELAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
G Sizemore cf 5 3 4 1 0 0 0 .280
C Blake 3b 4 1 3 2 0 0 1 .281
T Hafner dh 4 1 2 1 1 2 2 .277
V Martinez c 5 0 2 0 0 0 4 .311
T Nixon rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 6 .269
b-F Gutierrez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .111
J Peralta ss 4 0 2 0 1 0 2 .304
D Dellucci lf 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 .239
a-J Michaels ph-lf 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 .281
R Garko 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .340
J Barfield 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .236

Totals 38 5 13 5 3 2 23

a-grounded to second for D Dellucci in the 7th; b-grounded into fielder's
choice to shortstop for T Nixon in the 9th.

BATTING: HR - C Blake (8, 3rd inning off C Durbin 1 on, 0 Out), G Sizemore (10,
6th inning off C Durbin 0 on, 1 Out). SF - D Dellucci. RBI - T Hafner (41), C
Blake 2 (29), D Dellucci (12), G Sizemore (29). Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - J Michaels 1, T Nixon 1, J Peralta 1, J Barfield 2. GIDP - J
Michaels. Team LOB - 11.

FIELDING: E - J Peralta 2 (10, ground ball, throw); J Barfield (8, ground
ball).


----------------------------------------------------
DETROIT - 013 013 010 -- 9
CLEVELAND - 103 001 000 -- 5
----------------------------------------------------

DETROIT ip h r er bb so hr era
C Durbin (W, 5-1) 5 1/3 8 5 5 3 1 2 4.75
T Byrdak (H, 4) 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 2.31
J Grilli (H, 4) 1 2/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 7.04
B Seay 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 5.28
Z Miner 2/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.89

CLEVELAND ip h r er bb so hr era
C Lee (L, 2-3) 4 1/3 8 5 5 3 4 1 6.35
R Perez 2 2/3 4 3 0 0 2 0 0.00
R Hernandez 1 3 1 1 1 0 0 6.23
A Fultz 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.69

HBP - C Blake (by C Durbin). Pitches-strikes: C Durbin 115-63; T Byrdak
20-10; J Grilli 14-10; B Seay 4-4; Z Miner 16-10; C Lee 94-61; R Perez 47-31; R
Hernandez 19-10; A Fultz 17-12. Ground balls-fly balls: C Durbin 7-8; T Byrdak
2-0; J Grilli 4-1; B Seay 0-1; Z Miner 1-1; C Lee 1-8; R Perez 2-5; R Hernandez
1-1; A Fultz 1-2. Batters faced: C Durbin 28; T Byrdak 5; J Grilli 5; B Seay 2;
Z Miner 3; C Lee 25; R Perez 14; R Hernandez 6; A Fultz 4.

UMPIRES: HP--Tony Randazzo. 1B--Charlie Reliford. 2B--Greg Gibson. 3B--Larry
Vanover.
EJECTIONS: DETROIT's Leyland by Randazzo (4th), DETROIT's Verlander by Gibson (4th).

T--3:44. Att--38,254.
Weather: 80 degrees, overcast. Wind: 9 mph, out to right.</div>

 

Ordonez continues his red-hot start as Tigers finally beat Indians

<h3>DETROIT 9, CLEVELAND 5</h3>CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- This time the Detroit Tigers were able tohang on to a lead. But they needed a little spark from theirmanager.

A night after giving up five runs in the ninth inning, theTigers hung on to defeat the Cleveland Indians, 9-5, onSaturday.

Magglio Ordonez and Ivan Rodriguez combined for eight hits andseven RBI as Detroit finally figured out a way to beat Clevelandthis season after losing the first five games between theAmerican League Central contenders.

"It was a sign of no panic by the players," Tigers manager JimLeyland said. "The players know we have a good team and theyknow Cleveland is an outstanding team. We finally got onethough."

After seeing Leyland ejected in the bottom of the fourth, theTigers responded with a run in the fifth and three in the sixthto take control of the game.

Leyland was ejected by home plate umpire Tony Randazzo forarguing about the strike zone. After pleading his case for 10minutes to no avail, Leyland walked into the dugout only tore-emerge and resume his argument with crew chief CharlieReliford, who was at first base. Leyland briefly argued withReliford before leaving the game for good.

"I don't talk about that stuff," Leyland said about hisejection. "I don't discuss it with the media or the newspapers,its unfair to the umpires to do that."

"Jim is a very intense manager," Rodriguez said.

Justin Verlander also was ejected during Leyland 's argument bysecond base umpire Greg Gibson. Verlander, who started inThursday's loss to the Indians, was standing in the dugout whenhe was tossed from the game.

Ordonez, who equalled a career high with four hits, promptly ledoff the fifth with his league-leading 29th double off Indiansstarter Cliff Lee. Two batters later Rodriguez doubled to theright- center gap giving Detroit a 5-4 lead.

"We swung the bat good tonight," Ordonez said.

"Magglio has been tremendous for us all year," Leyland said.

The Tigers extended their lead in the sixth with some help fromthe Tribe's defense. Placido Polanco started the inning with aroutine grounder that second baseman Josh Barfield let slipbetween his legs.

Gary Sheffield followed with a single to left and the bases weresoon loaded after shortstop Jhonny Peralta could not fieldMarcus Thames' ground ball. Rodriguez made the Indians pay fortheir mistakes with a two-run single to left and Omar Infantedrove in the Tigers' eighth run with a single to left.

"I felt good," Rodriguez said. "I put some good at-bats togetherwith some good swings. I just have to come back and do it againtomorrow."

Grady Sizemore brought Cleveland closer with a solo homer off ofChad Durbin in the sixth, cutting Detroit 's lead to 8-5.

Durbin (5-1) was able to hang around long enough to pick up hisfifth straight win. The righthander, who hasn't lost since hisfirst start of the season, gave up five runs on eight hits in 51/3 innings.

"Our offense can hit," Durbin said. "If you can keep the gameclose they are going to score you a lot of runs."

Four reliever's combined for four scoreless innings, althoughJason Michaels flied out to the warning track in center fieldoff Zach Miner with two runners on to end it.

"It was good to see the bullpen come in and do a good job,"Leyland said. "We needed that. It was very important for thoseguys to hold the lead. These guys are capable, they just needto start doing their job and gain some confidence."

It was another rough outing for Lee (2-3), who dropped his thirdstraight game. Lee allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings and hasallowed 15 earned runs in his last 13 1/3 innings.

"I have been getting (knocked around)," Lee said. I have to finda way to turn it around."

The Tigers took a 4-1 lead in the third as Ordonez hit a two-runhomer to center, his 13th of the season, and Sean Casey had anRBI double. Casey Blake had three hits, including a two-run homerun for the Tribe, but it wasn't enough as Cleveland lost foronly its fifth time in 24 games at home.