• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Indians beat Tigers in 14, tighten AL Central

Aug 10, 2011 - 6:27 AM Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - Kosuke Fukudome was hit by a David Pauley pitch with the bases loaded in the 14th inning, giving the Indians a 3-2 victory over the Tigers nearly seven hours after the first pitch.

A lengthy rain delay caused the game to end near 2:00 a.m. (et), and Fukudome capped it by taking a pitch off his left elbow with the bags full, the game's first run since the second inning.

Pauley (5-5) took the loss, which allowed the Indians to pull within three games of the AL-Central leading Tigers.

"We just didn't do anything with their bullpen. Their bullpen shut us down. We just didn't get a big hit," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

The starting pitchers were casualties of the long weather delay. Detroit's Doug Fister and Cleveland's Justin Masterson both gave up two runs and four hits in two innings.

Duane Below threw four perfect innings of long relief for the Tigers, striking out three, while Chad Durbin gave up a hit in three innings for the Indians. Below has retired 22 straight batters in relief appearances.

"All the credit goes to our bullpen, 12 shutouts innings to allow us to go out there and score a run," Indians manager Manny Acta said of his seven relievers, including Frank Herrmann (3-0), who pitched two frames for the win.

The Indians didn't have a hit after the rain delay until Jason Donald led off the eighth inning with a pinch-hit double.

Donald, after going to third on a groundout, was then tagged out by catcher Alex Avila after Michael Brantley whiffed on a squeeze bunt attempt. Avila scrambled to his left and caught Donald about two-thirds of the way down the line.

Victor Martinez, back after missing Sunday's game with a sprained left knee, singled to lead off the top of the ninth for Detroit. But pinch-runner Ryan Raburn was eventually stranded at second base.

The Tigers wasted Miguel Cabrera's leadoff single in the top of the 11th and the Indians stranded runners at first and second in the bottom of the inning.

Tigers left fielder Brennan Boesch made a diving catch in left field on Matt LaPorta's sinking line drive to end the 12th inning.

The game was tied 2-2 before the tarp was rolled onto the field in the third, halting things for two hours, three minutes.

Andy Dirks and Cabrera hit back-to-back singles with two outs for Detroit in the first inning, but Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis dove to snare Martinez's grounder and threw him out to end the threat.

Kipnis then doubled with one out in the bottom of the first and scored on Asdrubal Cabrera's single to spark a two-run rally. He went to third on Travis Hafner's base hit and scored on Carlos Santana's sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

The Tigers put their first three hitters aboard in the second inning and scored twice to tie the game. Jhonny Peralta and Carlos Guillen singled and Avila walked to load the bases for Don Kelly, who grounded out to plate the first run. Another run scored on Austin Jackson's groundout to make it 2-2.

Game Notes

Leyland and general manager Dave Dombrowski had their contracts extended during Monday's off-day. Leyland agreed to a deal through 2012, while Dombrowski worked out a four-year extension through 2015...Fister was making his second start with the Tigers since they acquired him from the Mariners...The Tigers have lost 12 straight in Cleveland (haven't won at Progressive Field since May 8 of last year and were swept in their first trip there this season from April 29-May 1)...Cleveland started a six-game homestand that also includes a visit from the Twins this weekend.