Rays/MLB

Indians rock All-Star starter then hold off Tigers' big rally

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 26, 2006

Indians 12, tigers 7

CLEVELAND - Cleveland scored seven in the first off Kenny Rogers then held on.

The Indians scored five before the left-hander recorded an out.

The All-Star starter helped load the bases with two walks before Victor Martinez nearly took his head off with a line drive single to center.

Rogers walked Casey Blake to force in a run, and Jhonny Peralta followed with a double to right-center.

Two runs scored, and Blake also came home to make it 5-0 when Curtis Granderson overthrew the cutoff man for his first error in 151 major-league games.

Grady Sizemore's single made it 6-0 and chased Rogers. It was his shortest outing since lasting just one-third of an inning May 21, 1993.

Roman Colon replaced Rogers, but the Indians weren't done as Jason Michaels' single capped the seven-run outburst.

Rogers, who was 8-1 with six no-decisions in his previous 15 starts, lost for the first time since May 28.

The Tigers, shut out in the first for the first time in four games, got back in it in the second as Brandon Inge connected for a three-run shot onto the porch in left.

Detroit cut it to 8-7 in the fourth. But it only three hits against Jason Davis, Brian Sikorski and Fausto Carmona over the final five innings.

Leading 9-7, the Indians added three in the seventh. Martinez hit a run-scoring double, and Blake followed with a shot to straightaway center that Granderson couldn't run down before slamming into the wall as the ball ricocheted away. Blake hustled all the way around for the inside-the-park homer.

Notable: Granderson's errorless streak was the longest ever for a Tigers outfielder to start his career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Granderson's streak was the longest by a position player to start his career since Dave Roberts went 205 games from 1999-2003 before his first miscue.

Notable: "I'm sure that's about as ugly as I can get." - Rogers

[Last modified July 26, 2006, 06:11:49]