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SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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AP
CLEVELAND - Although he was probably charge-a-cameraman angry, Kenny Rogers stayed calm, cool and collected. On a warm, muggy night there was nothing he could do but take this beating.
Rogers didn’t make it out of the first inning Tuesday as Cleveland scored seven runs off Detroit’s ace and then held off baseball’s best team long enough for a 12-7 victory over the Tigers.
Rogers (11-4) walked three and didn’t retire any of the first seven hitters while being roughed up for a season-high seven runs and five hits in his shortest outing in more than 13 years.
“I’m sure that’s about as ugly as I can get,” he said.
The left-hander, who was 8-1 with six no-decisions in his previous 15 starts, lost for the first time since he was beaten by Cleveland on May 28.
“That’s the way the game is,” Rogers said. “I’ve been around long enough to know about the highs and lows. You can’t get caught up in either one. For me to put it into perspective, it’s one game, but I put us in too big of a hole.
“I know I’ll be better the next time, because this is about as bad as I can get. Hopefully.”
Grady Sizemore and Jason Michaels, the Indians’ Nos. 1 and 2 hitters, went a combined 6-for-7 with three walks, four runs and three RBIs.
Jhonny Peralta and Victor Martinez drove in two runs apiece, and Casey Blake hit a two-run, inside-the-park homer in the seventh inning for Cleveland, which nearly squandered a 7-0 lead.
Brandon Inge hit a three-run homer and an RBI double and Curtis Granderson went 4-for-5 as the Tigers clawed back within 8-7 in the fourth but were shut down on three hits by Jason Davis (3-1), Brian Sikorski and Fausto Carmona over the final five innings.
“Our bullpen was fantastic,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “It takes a lot of guts to hang onto that game right there. I wonder how many people thought we were going to win when they got back within a run.”
Leading 9-7, the Indians added three runs in the seventh off Jason Grilli. Martinez hit an RBI double and Blake followed with a shot to straightaway center that Granderson couldn’t run down before slamming into the wall as the ball ricocheted away.
Blake hustled all the way around, giving Cleveland its biggest lead since its early 7-0 advantage.
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“Haf (Travis Hafner) told me that any self-respecting power hitter would have stopped at third base,” Blake said with a smile. “I’ll take them any way I can get them. When I came around third, I saw 20 arms waving from the dugout.”
Down 7-0 after one and 8-3 after three, the Tigers scored four runs in the fourth to chase starter Paul Byrd, who couldn’t protect the seven-run lead.
The Indians scored five runs off Rogers before the left-hander recorded an out.
The AL’s starter in the All-Star game helped Cleveland load the bases with two walks before Martinez nearly took his head off with a line drive RBI single to center.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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