Tigers top timid Tribe in the 10th


Cleveland’s slumbering bats cost them first place in the
AL Central.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The staggering Detroit Tigers have the AL Central all to themselves — for at least one day.

Magglio Ordonez hit a three-run homer in Detroit’s four-run 10th inning as Detroit moved one game ahead of Cleveland in the up-for-grabs division with a 6-2 win over the Indians on Monday night.

Ordonez’s 22nd homer, a shot to left off Joe Borowski (2-5), broke it open for the Tigers, who were missing two regulars because of the flu and had been playing lately as if their whole roster had come down with something.

Curtis Granderson, whose all-out diving catch in the eighth kept it tied 2-2, walked to open the 10th and went to third on Ryan Raburn’s bloop single. Gary Sheffield’s RBI single gave Detroit a 3-2 lead.

Indians pitching coach Carl Willis made a quick visit to settle down Borowski. The right-hander made a mistake anyway as Ordonez ripped his first pitch over the wall in left to make it 6-2.

Fernando Rodney (2-5) struck the side in the ninth after allowing a leadoff double, and Todd Jones worked the 10th.

Struggling Tigers

For several weeks, the Tigers have looked nothing like defending AL champions. Since the All-Star break, they’re just 14-19. The Indians, though, have been worse, going 13-18 with an offense that can’t hit.

The two teams have been awful together. When one loses, so does the other. And when one wins, which hasn’t been often lately, the other usually follows. On the 28 previous occasions that they played on the same day, the clubs have done the same thing 18 times.

Ordonez drove in Detroit’s first run in the sixth.

Grady Sizemore hit a two-run homer for the Indians, who went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Cleveland, which started the season 33-13 at home, has lost 13 of its last 17 at Jacobs Field.

The Tigers played perhaps their biggest game this season without second baseman Placido Polanco and outfielder Craig Monroe. Both came down with the flu, forcing manager Jim Leyland to rearrange his lineup.

Looking for answers

Indians manager Eric Wedge also adjusted his batting order, which could be described as sickly of late.

Kenny Lofton moved into the leadoff spot and Sizemore was dropped to third. But the change had little effect as the Indians got just six hits and were held to two runs or less for the 12th time in 20 games.

Granderson, who wasn’t in Leyland’s original lineup, saved the Tigers in the eighth.

With the score 2-2, two runners on and two outs, Cleveland’s Travis Hafner, back after missing four games because of a sore knee, hit a soft liner toward the gap in left-center that looked like it would drop in for an RBI single.

But Granderson sprinted over and made a sensational catch, snatching the ball backhanded just above the grass with a head-first dive that prompted reliever Tim Byrdak to raise his arms in triumph like a boxer who had just scored a late-round knockout.

Indians starter C.C. Sabathia allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings.

Sizemore hadn’t batted anywhere but in the leadoff spot for the Indians since May 14, 2005. In his first at-bat as Cleveland’s No. 3 hitter, Sizemore drove a fastball from Jeremy Bonderman into the right-field bullpen to make it 2-0.

Sizemore’s 20th homer made him the fourth Cleveland player to have that many homers and 25 steals in the same season, joining Joe Carter (1986-88), Roberto Alomar (1999, 2001) and Bobby Bonds (1979).

The fast start didn’t last for Cleveland’s offense against Bonderman, who gave up two runs and four hits in seven innings.

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