And The (Tribe) Hits Keep On Coming

It seemed like Justin Verlander was going to have a commanding outing tonight until the fourth inning.  Things even looked good during part of that inning, but then with two outs and Franklin Gutierrez on second base, Asdrubal Cabrera, Kenny Lofton, Casey Blake, and Grady Sizemore all singled to give the Tribe a 4-3 lead.  Most of the Indian batters seemed to have two strikes when they got their hits, and a few of those hits were ground balls that found holes.  Add in a wild pitch to score Blake, and the Indians led 5-3 when the top of the fourth was over.  In the fifth with Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta having singled, Zach Miner came in and got a 2 strike count on Gutierrez before serving up a home run pitch. 

The Tigers climbed back into the game in the sixth with a solo home run by Magglio Ordonez and a two run shot by Marcus Thames, but in the eighth the Tribe put together some more hits and took another 5-run lead.  The Tigers were able to score two runs in the bottom of the ninth off Jensen Lewis, but the comeback fell a little short in the bottom of the ninth with Ivan Rodriguez swinging at two pitches out of the strike zone after working a 3-1 count.  Thames waited in the on deck circle waiting for a chance for heroics he would not have.

These games where the Tigers are not getting the hits when they need them are getting more difficult to watch, and its another cause of these frustrating losses.