Chris Perez’s 14th save sinks Detroit Tigers 3-5 against Cleveland Indians – MLB Update
Detroit Tigers were beaten by Cleveland Indians 3-5 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday, May 22 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Chris Perez held his nerves to wrap a shaky save and the Indians secured a thrilling win to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Asdrubal Cabrera looked in outstanding form as he doubled to deep centre in the first inning to score the first run for Cleveland.
The Tigers fought back immediately in the second inning, thanks to Alex Avila’s three run home run to centre that gave them a 3-1 lead. However, despite having the momentum on their side, the Tigers failed to score any more runs and the Indians came back from behind to snatch an important win.
Travis Hafner played a key role in deciding the end result of the game with his two RBI’s, which levelled score at 3-3 in the fifth. Casey Kotchman and Jose Lopez drove in crucial runs in closing stages of the game to help the Indians prevail in front of their home crowd.
"That's the loudest I've ever been cheered here," Perez said. "It didn't go unnoticed, trust me. I'm humbled. That was really nice."
"I like to face those guys," he said.
"I was pumped, the adrenaline was going. It could have gone the other way," he added. "I came through. I didn't know which way it was going to go. I was thankful it went the good way."
"We had the guys up there we wanted," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "The guy (Perez) threw a nasty, nasty pitch to Cabrera and then Prince hit the ball hard, but at a guy."
Credit must be given to Perez for the way he pitched against two of the best hitters in the American League; Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. After getting the job done, he shook hands with his team mates and received congratulations.
Perez will be extremely happy with his performance after he was booed by the fans during a recent appearance. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched six strong innings to beat the American League Central champions and Rick Porcello.
Tags: