Another fly ball hit into the outfield, this time to right. Shin-Soo Choo makes the catch, that's two out.
@Mike I think he exited with a man on base, so I'm not too sure. We'll have to wait and see - those decisions are always so confusing to me.
Vinnie Pestano has Brennan Boesch with a 2-2 count, looking for that third strike to give the ball to his closer Chris Perez for the 9th inning.
Pestano strikes out Boesch and retires the Tigers in order 1-2-3 in the 8th inning. We go to the home half!
@Mike I happened to luck out and pick up Brantley off the waiver wire a month or so back, so I'm very happy with the results thus far. Now he's hitting cleanup for the Tribe, can't complain!
Although he got roughed up last inning, Justin Verlander's streak of pitching 6 innings or more is still in tact. Now 62 starts and counting.
Pitching change for the Tigers: Darin Downs in for Detroit, any relation to Scott Downs of the Angels?
Coming up for the Tribe, it's the man who kicked it all off with a solo home run last inning: Carlos Santana.
@Mike Actually, he's been great so far since joining the rotation. No more than 4 earned runs given up by him in a single start so far.
Carlos Santana picks up his second consecutive hit - this time it's a double into the left field corner. He hustles around first base and dives into second with the leadoff double.
Here's Travis Hafner, who also homered in his last at bat against Justin Verlander. He has a man in scoring position with nobody out, Cleveland up by a pair.
Hafner grounds out, but that moves Santana up to third base. Jim Leyland out to the mound to take the ball from Downs, and will make another pitching change.
Manny Acta opts for a pinch-hitter for Jose Lopez, brings in the newly acquired Brent Lillibridge.
Brayan Villarreal gets the ball now for the Tigers. His task will be to get Brent Lillibridge.
Villarreal ranks 6th among all AL relievers with 12.06 strikeouts per nine innings. So this is the guy to get K if ever the Tigers needed one.
And there it is ... the 99 MPH fastball, and Lillibridge can't catch up to it and strikes out. Now two away for Casey Kotchman.
Quintin Berry is sent back to the warning track, as Casey Kotchman hits one deep to left field. Berry makes the catch as Carlos Santana is stranded at third base.
As so Manny Acta will bring in his closer Chris Perez to close things out for the Tribe.
Perez converted 24 consecutive saves from Opening Day to July 5th, and has blown on 2 saves since then.
Perez will face Avila, Santiago and Infante. Not exactly a tall order to get the 7-8-9 hitters, but any hitter can prove to be a challenge late in games.
Perez looks for the call on the outside corner and doesn't get it, makes it 1-2 to Avila.
Avila fouls off a couple of pitches, this one 96 MPH from Perez.
After a lengthy at bat, Alex Avila knocks a leadoff double to the right field wall.
Choo with a strong arm, but can't make a play at Avila sliding into second base. Runner in scoring position for Santiago.
Santiago strikes out, it's on the 95 MPH heater from Chris Perez.
2-0 count to Omar Infante, Alex Avila at second base, and one man out.
And Chris Perez works himself into a little bit of trouble, as he walks the number nine hitter Omar Infante to put the tying run on base.
Back to the top of the lineup for the Tigers and the ever-dangerous Austin Jackson at the plate. He's 3 for 3 on the night, too.
It looked like Austin Jackson grounded into the double play, but perhaps Kipnis took a little too much time and that allows Jackson to run it out.
So the Tigers catch a break there as that was definitely the game-ender, and Jackson avoids the double play.
Kind of funny to see Chris Perez' fist pump there, and then his retraction.
@Minor_Leaguer He must love facing Brandon Morrow, then.
Quintin Berry misses on the last pitch, and he's behind 1-2. Chris Perez needs one more strike to close this out.
Perez looks for the called strike inside, but misses a good 4-5 inches off the plate. Even count at 2-2 on Berry.
Berry tries to check his swing on the 2-2 pitch, but he goes through and strikes out. And with that, the Tribe takes this one 5-3.
And with that loss by the Tigers, the Chicago White Sox take over sole place of the AL Central ... for now. And the Indians trail the Tigers now by only 3 games in the division.
So Joe Smith is awarded the win, Justin Verlander is charged with his 6th loss of the season and Chris Perez picks up his 29th save of the 2012 campaign.\
The Tribe with a huge win tonight, they come back against Justin Verlander in the 7th inning and hold on for the win.
Thanks everyone for all your comments tonight and thanks for following along. Great to interact with all of you, as always!
Take care and have a great evening, and see you back on Score Mobile very soon!
