By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
Tigers 9, Indian 5 – The Tigers avoided a sweep against the Cleveland Indians, pulling off a win in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
Tigers’ star Miguel Cabrera became the fourth fastest player in Major League Baseball history to reach 2,500 career hits with a single in the third inning.
The game also featured three Tigers (Cabrera, Ian Kinsler and Victor Martinez) getting hit by the pitch in the third frame.
The Indians jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the second inning on RBI singles by Brandon Guyer and Abraham Almonte.
Detroit responded with three runs in third to take a 3-2 lead, then added two runs in the fifth on a two-run home run from Justin Upton to gain a 5-2 advantage.
Cleveland quickly responded with two run of its own in the fifth to cut its deficit to 5-4.
Both teams exchanged a run in the sixth inning before J.D. Martinez put the game out of reach in the ninth inning with a three-run homer.
J.D Martinez paced the Tigers with three hits while Cameron Maybin and Erick Aybar each had two hits.
Detroit’s starting pitcher Daniel Norris tossed a victory, allowing four runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out six batters in five innings.
Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez notched his 43rd save of the season, recording the final four Cleveland outs.
The Tigers are now 79-70 and are two and a half games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the final playoff spot with 13 games remaining.
Detroit will open a three-game road series with the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.
Record: 79-70
2nd Place in AL Central Division (7 games behind first-place Cleveland)
2.5 games behind Toronto for the last playoff spot
Magic # to clinch a playoff spot: 17
Magic # to clinch an AL Central Division title: 21
Misery # to AL Central Division elimination: 7
Misery # to playoff elimination: 12
Next Game: 09/20/2016 @ Minnesota Twins 8:10 p.m. @ Target Field
Hitting stats: J.D. Martinez 2B (32) HR (21) 3 RBI (62), Justin Upton HR (25) 2 RBI (76), Erick Aybar 2 RBI (32), Victor Martinez RBI (77), James McCann 2B (8).
Pitching stats: Daniel Norris W (3-2) 5 IP 5 H 4 R 1 ER 1 BB 6 K, Francisco Rodriguez SV (43) 1.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 K.
Titans 16, Lions 15 – Penalty issues for the Lions led to a late game-winning touchdown for the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon.
The Titans scored on a nine-yard catch by Andre Johnson from quarterback Marcus Mariota with 1:19 left in regulation.
The Lions, who are now 1-1 on the season, jumped out to a 9-0 lead after the first quarter on a safety and a 24-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matthew Stafford to Anquan Boldin.
Both teams exchanged field goals in the second quarter, Lions led 12-3 at halftime.
The Lions scored the lone three-points of the third quarter on kicker Matt Prater’s second field goal of the game.
Tennessee closed out the scoring on a 13-0 fourth quarter run capped off by Johnson’s game-winning touchdown.
Stafford threw for 260 yards for Detroit on 22-for-40 passing with one touchdown and one interception.
Lions’ wide out Marvin Jones Jr. led the Lions with 118 receiving yards on eight cathches.
Tahir Whitehead and Tavon Wilson paced Detroit’s defense with seven tackles a piece while Glover Quin had an interception.
The Lions will play the Green Bay Packers on the road next Sunday.
Record: 1-1
3rd Place in NFC North Division (.5 game behind Minnesota and Green Bay)
Magic # to clinch an NFC North Division title: 16
Next Game: 09/25/2016 @ Green Bay Packers 1:00 p.m. @ Lambeau Field
Stats: Passing-Matthew Stafford 22/40 260 Yds 1 Td 1 Int. Receiving-Marvin Jones Jr. 8 Rec 118 Yds, Eric Ebron 4 Rec 53 Yds, Anquan Boldin 4 Rec 48 Yds 1 TD. Defense-Tahir Whitehead 7 tackles, Tavon Wilson 7 tackles, Devin Taylor 1.5 sacks, Glover Quin 1 interception. Kicking-Matt Prater 2/2 FG (42,27 Yds) 1/1 XP.
