Cleveland, OH
The unthinkable happened. Alex stepped up to the plate after the night that Corey Kluber was having, and with one swing of the bat instead of being 2 1/2 behind the Tigers with 3 more games to go in this series, the Tigers could be at least 7 games in front of the Tribe. Alex has been having an abysmal year, hitting .199 considering that there wasn’t any Jhonny Peralta to help. Alex had to be the Avila that we all had been used to seeing. It was a great move by the Detroit skipper, Jim Leyland, to let the University of Alabama product swing away last night. It was a sign of things to come, hopefully. Alex Avila has not been able to come through in the clutch, but leave it to lucky 13 to come up with one of the highlights of the season to date. Until Alex’s heroics in the 9th inning, the Indians had been having their way with the anemic Tigers offense, and Corey Kluber looked like he was going to get an easy win until Tito Francona decided to remove Kluber from the game. He then brought on Chris Perez who for some reason could not find the strike zone. Tito could only watch in horror as the Tigers offense began to roar. It was two nothing Indians until the Indians bullpen began giving the Tigers cookies, and falling behind in the count. For most of the night Kluber, who was the Indians starter, dominated the Tigers and looked like he might get the Cleveland Indians to within 2 of the front running Tigers. Now the Indians find themselves behind the Motor City Kittys by 4 games. What’s even more amazing is the fact that the Tigers have only 45 losses all season long considering the problems with Jose Valverde, who the Tigers distanced themselves from.
