Tigers even series with Indians

After getting blanked 5-0 last night by nemesis Paul Byrd, the Tigers evened the series with the Indians with an 8-5 victory tonight. They were in command most of way but with their bullpen the way it is, it never seemed safe. Armando Galarraga started with three perfect innings but struggled the second time around the order. He allowed three runs on five hits and left with 6-3 lead and a man on second and one out in the sixth.

Freddy Dolsi came in and got the final two outs of the inning but then allowed a hits batsman and walk to start the seventh. Casey Fossum got the next batter and Joel Zumaya the two after that to get out of it. Zumaya then gave up a walk a single and a Ryan Garko RBI double for one run in the 8th to make it 8-4. Fernando Rodney walked Grady Sizemore in the ninth and he eventually came home on a wild pitch. So there was a lot of wildness and a little discomfort but they secured the win without involving Todd Jones.

Miguel Cabrera hit his 18th homer to put the Tigers up 1-0 in the second. The rest of the damage was done by the bottom three in the order, three batters who haven't done a lot this year. They scored three in the fourth on a two run double by Edgar Renteria and a double by Brandon Inge. They added two in the fifth on a two run double by Gary Sheffield. Inge then capped the scoring with a two run homer in the eighth.

The win combined with a White Sox 6-5 loss to the Twins moves the Tigers to 5 1/2 games back. The bad news is that the Twins are now just a half game back.