Game 1 (Final Score 3-9, Indians win)

Johnson faced Elarton in the first half of the day/night doubleheader in Cleveland. While Elarton and the Detroit offense combined to throw zeroes on the board, Johnson gave up some crooked numbers. It started in the first with one out gone and Crisp at bat; He doubled and scored on Hafner’s single (0-1). Hafner made it to second on Johnson’s wild pitch but Broussard struck out, reducing the scoring threat. Belliard hit an infield single but Gerut ended the inning.

Crisp again started a successful inning for the Indians, hitting a one out single. Hafner’s singled sent him all the way around to third and Broussard’s single scored Crisp (0-2). Belliard hit a sac fly that only scored Hafner and Johnson escaped after allowing another single when Hernandez jumped on the first pitch he saw and hit an inning ending groundout (0-3).

Bard brought the pain in the fourth, leading off with a double and scoring on Peralta’s single (0-4). Sizemore singled and Hafner, Johnson’s last batter, brought everyone home with a three run homer (0-7). Creek relieved Johnson and pitched pretty well until Hafner connected again, deep to center this time, in the sixth (0-8).

Both teams scored in the seventh, the Tigers on White’s single (the third in a row) and the Indians on Peralta’s (1-9). The Tigers’ singles all came with no outs used but only one crossed the plate because Rodriguez and Young combined to make three outs. The last Tigers’ gasp was in the top of the ninth when Shelton and White hit back-to-back extra base hits, Shelton for two and White for four (3-9). That was, however, a new line of harmony added to the Tigers’ 2005 Season Symphony I’m dubbing “Too Little Too Late.”

Game 2 (Final Score: 0-6, Indians win)

The Indians tagged Verlander for three early runs and never looked back. Sizemore became Verlander’s first major league victim and Crisp took the first hit of Verlander’s career. While Crisp stole second, Hafner became Verlander’s first career strikeoutee. Martinez’s double was the first extra base hit and Crisp the first earned run allowed by Verlander (0-1). Broussard followed with another double and Peralta hit an RBI single (0-3). Verlander threw his first wild pitch and issued his first and second walk to Gerut and Hernandez respectively before finally completing his first major league inning courtesy of Cora. Oh by the way, it was Verlander’s first career major league appearance today.

The second and third innings were also quite interesting. Monroe hit a one out double and Wilson drew a two out walk in the second but Logan stranded them. Not to be outdone, the Indians’ Sizemore hit a lead off double in the bottom half and was stranded. Inge singled to start the Tigers’ third and was doubled out on Polanco’s grounder so Shelton thought it was the perfect time to hit a double and Ordonez thought he’d groundout to end the inning. Verlander had his first major league fielding error but it came to nil since the Indians weren’t in a threatening position.

The fourth and fifth innings passed unremarkably into history but the Indians started something in the bottom of the sixth. Peralta singled, Gerut walked, Hernandez hit a fly for an out, and Walker replaced Verlander, ending his day. Cora was good for the second out of the inning but Sizemore hit a double that plated Peralta (0-4).

To start the seventh, the Tigers looked like they could claw their way back into the game. Miller replaced Davis on the mound for Cleveland and Infante greeted him with a lead off double. Wilson’s single was followed by Logan’s fielder’s choice, which featured Infante being thrown out at home. Inge used the second out but the Tigers still looked dangerous since Miller helped the cause with a balk, sending Logan over to second and Wilson to third. Alas, Polanco could only hit a hard grounder for the third out. Rodney was called on to put out the bases loaded fire in the bottom half and the game moved to the eighth inning.

The Tigers did jack against Miller’s replacement but Cleveland struck again with the long ball. Crisp beat out an inside-the-park homerun on a ball that Logan couldn’t play cleanly and Hafner crushed Rodney’s full count pitch deep into right field (0-6).

Riske finished the Tigers in the ninth but Detroit again made it interesting. Wilson was ejected when he complained that both strike two and three were off the plate and he wasn’t getting those calls all day. During the verbal exchange, the third base umpire ran down to help out and tripped, falling into Wilson, who thought he was getting tackled. Wilson later insinuated that the umpire was in a hurry to leave and that is why he called a couple of bad pitches strikes. I might have made that last bit up, but I swear I read it some where.

Game 3 (Final Score: 3-2, Tigers win)

The Tigers avoided the sweep in Cleveland by winning a close game, powered by the pitching of Maroth. The Tigers’ new batting order started the game right, two men on with one out and bases loaded with two out in the first inning but couldn’t get anything done. Maroth did his part keeping the Indians scoreless until his hitters gave him a lead.

The Tigers strung together a few hits in the third. Polanco led off with a single, took third on Guillen’s double, and scored on Shelton’s groundout (1-0). Ordonez came up next and he parked the 1-0 pitch in the cheap seats in right and escorted Guillen home (3-0). Maroth threw only six pitches in the bottom half of the inning but one of them Boone hit for a home run to put the home team right there (3-1).

The Tigers and Indians traded 1-2-3 innings or innings with only a single base runner through eight. Westbrook gave way to Cabrera in the sixth and Maroth gave way to German in the seventh, who gave way to Farnsworth in the eighth when the fun started up again. Farnsworth got Sizemore to swing at strike three in a full count but Crisp singled and Martinez walked, giving Broussard runners at the corners and one out. He went the way of Sizemore and so did his buddy Belliard. Percival entered in the ninth to close the game out but being a showman, he decided to give the home side’s fans some hope. Peralta led off with a solo shot but only Hafner was able to get on base the rest of the inning with a walk and Percival squeaked out another one (3-2).

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