Detroit Tigers 2012 regular season review – Part 24
With a series victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Detroit Tigers improved their record to 20-21. Manager Jim Leyland was expecting his men to continue the good work in their next three match series against the Cleveland Indians but that did not turn
out to be the case.
Indians dominated their American League Central Division rivals in all three games to earn a memorable series sweep. In Game 1 at Progressive Field on May 22, 2012 the Indians outplayed the Tigers in finer details of the game for a 5-3 win.
Indians’ starter Ubaldo Jimenez gave up five hits and three runs to claim his first win of the season. His counterpart from Detroit, Rick Porcello allowed eight hits and five runs in just over five innings to take his third loss of the season.
Tigers’ relief pitchers Duane Below and Luke Putkonen combined to toss up 2.2 shut-out innings but the Indians held on to their two run lead to complete a deserving victory.
"I was pumped, the adrenaline was going. It could have gone the other way," said Indians’ closer Chris Perez. "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."
"It clearly was inaccurate," Fielder said. "It didn't hit him in the glove. If I made the play it would have been easy, but I didn't."
Alex Avila smacked a three run home-run to centre in the second inning to give Tigers the early 3-1 lead but the Indians were determined to emerge victorious in front of their home crowd. Making the most of available opportunities, they came back from behind
to take a 5-3 lead which lasted until the end of the contest.
Similar pattern of play was observed in Game 2 of the series as the Indians showed nerves of steel to clinch another thrilling 4-2 victory. Tigers’ starter Doug Fister gave up just two runs in six plus solid innings but his effort was not enough to save
his side from another forgettable defeat. Relief pitcher Phil Coke took the loss after giving up two runs in just 1.1 innings of relief.
Indians’ starter Zach McAllister played a key role in deciding the outcome of the clash as he held the Tigers to just two runs in six plus innings. Andy Dirks and Prince Fielder made valuable contributions to give Tigers the early 2-0 lead. Indians fought
back superbly, thanks to Travis Hafner and Carlos Santana who drove in vital runs to help their side prevail.
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