Isaac Paredes hit a grand slam – the first home team of his MLB career! – to help clear an early 5-0 deficit, and the Detroit Tigers padded their lead to make a 10-5 decision over the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on Friday night. Rony Garcia, who worked 1 1⁄3 innings as part of six Tigers scoreless frames, grabbed the first win of his career.
The Indians have enjoyed great success against Fulmer throughout his career, and this game was no exception. He ran only one batter, but Fulmer fought his command in this very beginning, and that fight led directly to the early runes in the second. Fulmer hit Carlos Santana with a pitch to open the frame, then ran Reyes on four consecutive pitches before Tyler Naquin could run a double through the infield to score Cleveland’s first run. A short run after short brought a second run home, and the Tribe added a third when Delino Deshields’ bouncer returned to the mound with two outs pulling out Fulmer, allowing the runner to scoot home. Franmil Reyes added a long home team in the third to make it 5-0 before Fulmer could record nine outs.
But things changed soon after. Miguel Cabrera finished with one out in the fourth, and Jonathan Schoop brought him a two-run homer, his sixth of the season. Cleveland starter Adam Plutko faced five more fighters after Schoop, but did not retire one. A hit-by-pitch, single, and walk loaded the bases for Austin Romine, who kept the line with a single to the right. Paredes followed with the big hit, a grand slam to the left that put the Tigers ahead, 7-5.
The game became a field battle of the bullpens from there, and the Tigers won decisively. Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire used five different relievers to cover the last six innings, and the quintet combined to allow just five hits and two walks. Rony Garcia grabbed the win, but Jose Cisnero had the strongest away game, with three strikeouts in 1 2⁄3 innings. Gregory Soto came back on course with a strong seventh, grabbing two strikeouts of his own.
The Tigers offense helped their own cause in the later innings, setting up the lead with three assists. Victor Reyes led the seventh with a rocket to right center, which put his club 8-5.
The Tigers added three more hits in the inning, the final of which was a two-run single by Jeimer Candelario to put the Tigers up five runs. That would be more than enough cushion for the Tigers’ pin, which recorded the last nine outs in relatively short order to close out the win.
Well, for the sad nice facts:
- As we all know, this win caught a Tigers with nine playing losses. A helpful FanPost from earlier this week pointed out that the Tigers had a 32.8 percent chance of making the playoffs at the start of that streak. Now they are down to 5.9 percent.
- This win was the Tigers’ first against Cleveland since April 10, 2019. They had lost 20 consecutive games to the Tribes, including their first three of the 2020 season.
- This one by Jason Beck is a bit misleading – Fulmer did not pitch in 2019, and we’re talking about a stretch that expanded all three at-bats – but it still does not look good.
Francisco Lindor was 8-for-20 with 3 HR off Michael Fulmer, including a double and an HR last Sunday in Detroit. He gets first-pitch ground-ball DP to finish first inning, clears leadoff single and saves pitch count. It’s his first out vs. Lindor since June 8, 2018.
– Jason Beck (@beckjason) 21 August 2020
But hey, a win is a win. Now go out and rough on the rookie on Saturday, Tigers.
