Nate Robertson’s longest scoreless outing of his career was not enough as the Tigers lost to the Indians 3-1 Thursday night. Robertson pitched 8 and 2/3 innings, giving up no runs and only allowing 4 hits. He did this very efficiently, in 91 pitches. Detroit is now 2 and 1/2 games out of first in the division and 5 back in the Wild Card. This wasn’t the first time a solid start by Robertson was wasted. Since last season, the Tigers have lost 15 times when Robertson makes a quality start.

Joel Zumaya, who returned from finger surgery on Tuesday when he got the only batter he faced to ground out, got the loss as he gave up 3 runs in the tenth after neither team had a run through nine innings. He didn’t look to good out on the mound, only throwing 94-96 MPH, and not having good control. After getting Casey Blake to ground out to end the ninth, Zumaya loaded the bases with one out. He got Franklin Gutierrez to strike out to make it two outs. Kenny Lofton broke the game open with an infield single. Ramon Santiago made a diving stop, but was unable to fire to second base in time. Many questioned Jim Leyland’s decision to keep Zumaya in with the bases loaded in such a crucial game, especially since he had just returned from the aforementioned finger surgery. After giving up the hit to Lofton, surely he would be taken out, right? Wrong. Leyland left him in, and former Tiger Chris Gomez delivered a two-run single to make the lead 3-0. Bobby Seay then relieved Zumaya, striking out Grady Sizemore.

The Tigers had many chances to score before the game went into extra innings. The Tigers left 12 men stranded on base, many of them in scoring position. In the eighth inning, the Tigers had Granderson on second with one out. Sean Casey grounded out, and left in up to Magglio Ordonez. But Ordonez, a righty, against the righty Westbrook, was intentionally walked to get to the switch hitting Carlos Guillen. That shows how much respect opposing pitchers have for Maggs, who is hitting .383 with 8 homers and 25 RBI’s in August. The Indains’ strategy worked as Guillen grounded out.

In the ninth, the Tigers had many chances to come away with a walk-off win. On the first pitch of the ninth, Marcus Thames ripped a Rafael Betancourt pitch that looked like it would be a walk-off homer. But the ball curved foul, and Thames eventually flied out. After Rabelo singled, and Brandon Inge walked, Ramon Santiago flied out, and Curtis Granderson struck out. The only pitches Granderson saw were curveballs cutting away from him and into the dirt. Until he shows he can hit this pitch, pitchers will do that a lot more often.

In the bottom of the tenth, the Tigers tried to make a two out rally as Ordonez doubled, Guillen bunted for a single, and Marcus Thames doubled. The score was 3-1 with runners on second and third, and Pudge Rodriguez at the plate with a chance to tie it. But he flied out to right to end the game.

Weekend Series Preview:

The Tigers face the Yankees in a four-game series this weekend. The Tigers hope to gain revenge after losing 3 of 4 to the Yanks last week. Andrew Miller, who is coming off the DL, will face Roger Clemens tonight. Miller made his MLB debut against the Yankees last year, and pitched a scoreless inning. The other probable pitching match-ups are Wang-Bonderman, Hughes-Jurrjens, and Mussina-Verlander.

-Stonesalltheway

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