Cleveland Indians: Tribe Rallies to Support Carmona

6-15-11     at Detroit     W, 6-4     36-30

     Fausto Carmona and the Indians desperately needed this.

     Facing the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night, the Tribe, which had lost 15 of its last 20 games, overcame an early 3-0 deficit and moved into a 1st place tie with the Tigers.

     Searching for his 1st victory since May 3rd, Carmona struggled mightily in the 1st inning.  Following Brennan Boesch's 2-out, solo homer, Jack Hannahan committed a critical error that opened the floodgates.  Victor Martinez doubled, Magglio Ordonez walked, and Alex Avila laced a 2-run single through the middle of the infield.

     Cleveland roared back in the 4th and knocked Detroit starter Brad Penny out of the game.  Asdrubal Cabrera's single and Shin-Soo Choo's walk brought the tying run to the plate.  And, even though he did not hit a home run, Matt LaPorta had a productive at-bat because he lined a RBI single to left field.  Expecting a bunt, third baseman Don Kelly pinched in at the corner, but that was a poor decision.  Orlando Cabrera hit a high chopper over Kelly's head, and Choo came around to cross home plate.  Suddenly, the Indians were only trailing by 1.  Hannahan then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, and Lou Marson drilled a RBI single to right.  Grady Sizemore's sac fly completed the offensive explosion.

     Boesch's RBI groundout tied the game, but the Tribe responded in the 5th.  Choo singled, and Orlando Cabrera rifled a go-ahead RBI double down the left field line.  However, it was Boesch's inability to cut the ball off that enabled Choo to score.

     Given the lead, Carmona battled through 5 innings, allowing only 2 earned runs, and he picked up his 4th win of the season.

     Boesch's nightmarish evening continued in the 7th as his error turned Choo's single into a virtual double.  A wild pitch advanced Choo to 3rd, and the South Korean scored on LaPorta's grounder.

     Due to the relative brevity of Carmona's outing, the Tribe bullpen was forced to pitch the final 4 frames.  Rafael Perez, Vinnie Pestano, and Tony Sipp teamed up to hurl the 1st 3, and Chris Perez nailed down his 17th save by tossing a 1-2-3 9th.

Back in 1st: Carmona's gritty effort has the Tribe .001 ahead of the Tigers