The Tigers lost two different four runs leads and needed to come back in the ninth inning against Jonathan Papelbon to end their five game losing streak tonight. The game winning hit was a texas league single off the bat of Placido Polanco and it also happened to be his fifth hit of the ballgame.Â
The Tigers racked up eighteen hits in this one. Magglio Ordonez and Gary Sheffield had three hits each while Carlos Guillen, Ivan Rodriguez and Matt Joyce had two a piece. Joyce drove in his first run, scored his first run and picked up his first all in one game.
Armando Galarraga was cruising in this one until the fourth inning when the flood gates opened. He gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings and both Zach Miner and Francisco Cruceta gave up two a piece. Todd Jones picked up the win with a shaky but scoreless ninth inning.
The Tigers can salvage a split tomorrow. It’ll be Josh Beckett going up against Justin Verlander in the series finale.