Entering Thursday's series finale in Detroit against the Tigers, the Cleveland Indians looked like they had the edge.  The Indians had veteran Derek Lowe who leads the Indians with seven wins on the mound.  The Tigers sent Casey Crosby to the mound.  Crosby, a rookie who entered the game 0-1 with a 16.20 ERA.  He was tattooed in his first Major League start by the New York Yankees.  But there is a reason they play the games on the field and not on paper and today was a perfect example as the Tigers stopped the Indians 7-5.

Things got off to a bad start immediately for Lowe when he allowed five singles and threw a wild pitch in the first inning and the end result was a four run inning for the Tigers.

The Indians offense showed signs of life in the top of the fourth inning when Jason Kipnis walked to lead off the inning.  Carlos Santana then struck out for the first out of the inning.  Jose Lopez then came to the plate and Kipnis stole second.  The steal was Kipnis' 14th of the season.  Lopez then came through with a double to right field and Kipnis came home with the Indians first run, closing the gap to 4-1.

The problem for the Indians was that Lowe just did not have it.  The Tigers came right back in the bottom of the fourth inning with three more runs off of him, increasing the Tigers lead to 7-1. The fourth was Lowe's final inning.  The pitching line on the day for the veteran was not pretty.  He went four innings, giving up seven runs, all earned on nine hits.  One of the nine hits was a two run home run to Miguel Cabrera in the three run fourth inning.  Lowe also walked one Tigers hitter and struck out four.

The Indians made the game interesting by scoring two runs in the sixth inning.  The inning began when Asdrubal Cabrera walked.  Kipnis then doubled moving Cabrera to third base.  With runners at second and third Santana grounded out to Prince Fielder at first base.  Santana never made it down the first base line, but Cabrera did come home with the Indians second run of the game and Kipnis moved to third.  Brayan Villareal then replaced Tigers starting pitcher Crosby.  The first batter Villareal faced was Lopez and the Indians third baseman flew out to right field and Kipnis scored to cut the Tigers lead to 7-3, that was as close as the Indians got in the sixth inning. 

The Indians pulled even closer to the Tigers in the seventh inning with a two out rally.  After the first two Indians were retired to start the inning Lou Marson singled to center field.  At that point Tigers manager Jim Leyland had seen enough and removed Villareal from the game.  Phil Coke entered the game for the Tigers and had a rough time.  The first batter Coke faced Shin-Soo Choo, singled to left field and Marson moved to third.  Coke's troubles continued when Cabrera came up and blasted a double to left field over the head of Detroit left fielder Don Kelly.  Marson and Choo scored on the double and the Indians were within two runs at 7-5.  The inning continued when Kipnis singled and Cabrera moved to third base.  That was it for Coke as Leyland felt the urgency of a win for the Tigers.  Leyland brought in Joaquin Benoit.  The first batter Benoit faced was Santana and he walked him to load the bases.  Benoit somehow got out of the trouble as he got Lopez to fly out to center fielder Quintin Berry who nearly misplayed the ball but made the catch to end the inning and the Tribe threat with the score 7-5 which ended up being the final.

The Indians looked like they might rally again in the eighth inning off Benoit, putting two runners on with one out but could not get any runs across.

Lowe took the loss and falls to 7-4 with a 3.72 ERA.  Crosby went five and one third innings for the Tigers and picked up his first Major League win.  He is now 1-1 with a 9.35 ERA.  Jose Valverde picked up the save for Detroit.  Valverde now has 10 save on the year.  

Indians minor league legend Louis Medina II AKA Matt LaPorta had the day off.

The Indians will begin a stretch of inter league play on Friday in St. Louis against the World Champion Cardinals at 8:05 p.m. at Busch Stadium.  Josh Tomlin will make the start for the Indians.  The right hander is 2-3 with a 5.32 ERA.  Former Indian Jake Westbrook will be on the mound for the Cardinals.  Westbrook is 4-5 with a 4.23 ERA.
tshirer@lakecounty-sentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @TimothyShirer also check out our Indians Nation Fan Page 

POSTED 06/07/2012  17:09