Indians 8, Tigers 1: The goose is cooked

“Almost a great play by Reyes” could have been the unofficial tagline for today’s game, as left fielder Victor Reyes came very close to two very good plays. But almost doesn’t count.

This was, in general, a not great game. The Tigers were hoping Corey Kluber would take longer after the break to regain his former footing, but he was solid after giving up a single run in the first inning. The Tigers were hoping they’d see more of the quality Jordan Zimmermann showed in his previous outings, but instead they got a pitcher who was at 80 pitches in the third inning.

Zimmermann’s final line for the day was 3.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 HR on 80 pitches. Francisco Liriano pitched two innings, then Victor Alcantara, Daniel Stumpf, and Buck Farmer each took an inning apiece. Stumpf gave up a home run, and Farmer allowed another two runs to score.

Reyes, looking to redeem himself, hit a single in the bottom of the second that finally spelled the end of the day for Kluber. Kluber’s line for the day was 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, on 94 pitches.

Alex Wilson came on in the ninth to hopefully stop the bleeding. He managed to keep the Indians scoreless for the inning, giving the Tigers their last chance.

MLB.TV rightly cut to a clip of Jack Morris giving his speech so that we didn’t have to watch the final out of the game, as the Tigers fell 8-1.