Out of sorts early.

Indians 7, Tigers 5

Justin Verlander (4-3, 51.1 IP, 1.93 ERA, 2.08 FIP, 2.1 WAR) was not on his game early against the Indians and found himself 60 pitches deep after two innings and trailing 3-0. He had trouble locating his fastball and worked his way into an offspeed heavy approach that limited the damage, but his early struggles delivered a final line that was just 5 innings, 4 runs (3 earned), 5 walks, and 7 strikeouts. He left trailing 4-1, which was closer than it felt, but it was close enough to allow for a rally. The bullpen ballooned the deficit to 6-1 before a big 4 run 7th narrowed the gap. Alburquerque surrendered a run in the 8th to make it 7-5 and Tuiasosopo came to the plate as the go-ahead run in the 8th but hit into an inning ending double play. In the 9th, the Tigers put two on with one out and Jackson hit into a fielder’s choice followed by a Hunter RBI single to bring Cabrera to the dish with the tying run at 2nd. Unfortunately, he grounded out to end the game. With the loss, the Tigers drop to 20-14 on the season and will try to take the series tomorrow behind Rick Porcello (1-2, 26.1 IP, 7.52 ERA, 4.89 FIP, 0.1 WAR).

The Moment: Infante triples in two to make it 6-4 in the 7th