Tigers’ Galarraga dominates Tribe

Associated Press

DETROIT

Armando Galarraga continued his season-long dominance of the Cleveland Indians, pitching seven shutout innings to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 6-0 victory Friday night.

Galarraga, facing the Indians for the first time since his near-perfect game on June 2, started just as quickly this time. He retired the first 14 Cleveland hitters before Jayson Nix’s double just over the glove of left fielder Don Kelly.

Until that point, Galarraga had retired 41 of the 42 Indians hitters he had faced this season. The only one to reach base had been Jason Donald, who was mistakenly called safe by first-base umpire Jim Joyce on what would have been the 27th out of Galarraga’s perfect game.

After the hit, Galarraga (4-5) received a loud ovation from the crowd of 33,936. He finished by allowing three hits and matched a career high with eight strikeouts. He went 1-4 with a 5.12 ERA in 12 starts between the two outings against Cleveland.

Meanwhile, the Tigers offense was ending a three-game losing streak by beating up Cleveland starter Justin Masterson.

Masterson (4-12) dropped to 1-4 in his last nine starts, allowing five runs on 11 hits and a walk in six innings. Masterson has now given up at least 10 hits four times this season, tied for fifth in the major leagues.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first when Indians’ catcher Lou Marson threw away Will Rhymes’ sacrifice-bunt attempt, allowing Austin Jackson to score from second, and doubled the lead later in the inning on Miguel Cabrera’s RBI single.

Don Kelly finished with a career-best four hits, finishing with an RBI double in the eighth.