Miguel Cabrera (left hand), who would later collect his 2,500th career hit, was one of three Tigers hit by pitches from Indians right-handed pitcher Trevor Bauer early in the game.
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Ausmus said Victor Martinez had a welt on his knee, and Miguel Cabrera had a sore left hand, after getting hit by Bauer in the first inning.
Cabrera, a two-time American League MVP, became the 100th player in major league history to reach the milestone with his line drive off Tigers starter Trevor Bauer.
The wins have the Indians up seven games over the Tigers, but the series also saw the loss of Carlos Carrasco for the rest of the season after a line drive hit him on the hand. But if you can’t command the ball inside, you’ve got to maybe not go inside.
“I wasn’t real happy about it”, said Tigers manager Brad Ausmus.
Bauer (11-8) allowed six runs on 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings.
Nothing has been finalized yet, but the loss of Salazar and Carrasco probably means that Josh Tomlin and rookie Mike Clevinger return to the rotation.
Victor Martinez then got hit in the right knee by a pitch from Bauer, forcing in Kinsler with Detroit’s first run.
Ausmus said Kinsler, who committed a fielding error at second base in the fifth, showed symptoms later in the game.
Paul Hoynes, the longtime Indians beat writer for The Plain Dealer, thinks those two key injuries have doomed the Indians chances in the postseason, and said as much in his story on Saturday’s game . There is no place in the game for that.
It was then that home plate umpire Jordan Baker issued warnings to both benches.
Uptons two-run shot in the fifth gave Detroit a 5-2 lead.
It was Santana’s 32nd homer of the year and made it a one-run game at 6-5.
Though he won with star power in Boston, Francona has proven to be adept at shuffling roster pieces while leading the low-budget Indians to winning records in each of his four seasons.
Ausmus thought the incidents might have provided some motivation for his team.
“We have to make sure”, [pitching coach Mickey] Callaway said, “that these guys are all prepared to do whatever job they’re going to do when it comes to the postseason”. Barring a drastic letdown the last two weeks, the Indians are barreling toward their first division title since 2007.
The teams begin a four-game series in Detroit next week with Bauer as one of Cleveland’s scheduled starters.
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Indians: OF Lonnie Chisenhall (strained abdominal muscle) was announced as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning but was removed following a pitching change. Matt Boyd is slated to start for Detroit, while Minnesota sends Tyler Duffey to the mound.
