With an Anibal Sanchez outing that we all can remember and back and forth scoring, the Tigers Saturday afternoon match up with the Indians had a lot to offer for Tiger fans. Sanchez would give up just four hits, in 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, one walk and five strikeouts.

Tiger hitters would get things started third, in the 1st game of their double header with Cleveland. Trailing 1-0, J.D Martinez and Miguel Cabrera would deliver back to back home runs to left, for the lead. Then, in the 4th inning, the Tigers would tack on two more with an Iglesias double to center that would score Victor Martinez and Mahtook.

The Indians would take the air out of the stadium at Comerica in the 7th. A double from Ramirez and a single from Chisenhall would cut the Tigers lead to just two. Daniel Stumpf would relieve Sanchez. At the very next bat, Santana would homer to right, scoring two for the 4-4 tie. However, the Tigers were ready to rally in the bottom of the 7th. A walk to J.D. Martinez and a triple from Castellanos, and the Tigers would reclaim the lead. The Tigers would tack on two more on the strength of a V.Martinez walk and singles from Mahtook and McCann. The Tigers lead 7-4, and that’s how the score would stay as Tiger relievers held on for the win.

With the Tigers win, the climb back to the .500 mark continues as the Tigers improve to 36-43. Perhaps, just as importantly, the Tigers improve to 5-2, versus Cleveland on the season. The second game of their Saturday double header with Cleveland will feature Matt Boyd(2-5  5.69 ERA) against Indians’ starter Carlos Carrasco(8-3  3.67 ERA). Our coverage can be heard at 6:50 PM, on 95.3 WBCK.

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