The less said about the Indians third base situation, the better. Second base is a different matter all together.
UPDATED: 9:04 p.m.
DETROIT, Mich. -- This is a daily briefing of the Indians 2010 regular season. The Indians play the Tigers tonight in the second game of a three-game series at Comerica Park.
Comerica Park's dimensions: Left field line 345 feet, left field power alley 370 feet, center field 420, right center field power alley 365, right field line 330.
In-game notes:
Score: Tigers 5, Indians 2 after six innings.
Tigers on the prowl: The Tigers stretched their lead to 5-2 in the fifth.
Don Kelly, who had four hits in Friday's 6-0 victory, opened the inning with a homer to right. Austin Jackson, who owns Indians pitchers this season, followed with a double. Josh Tomlin, who was skipped in the rotation to give him extra rest, retired the next two batters and intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera.
Brennan Boesch burned him with an RBI double.
Ugly start: The Indians and Tigers combined for three errors in the first inning. The Tigers emerged from the clang-fest with a 2-1 lead.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead off Max Scherzer when Shin-Soo Choo reached on a two-out error by Will Rhymes at second base, stole second and scored when right fielder Boesch botched Travis Hafner's sinking liner to right for the second error.
Jackson, who entered the game hitting .407 against the Indians, opened the first with a double. He went to third on a sac-bunt and scored on Ryan Raburn's double past third. After Tomlin intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera, Boesch sent what looked like a double play ball to short, but Asdrubal Cabrera got his feet mixed up and had to settle for the force at second.
Tomlin wild pitched Rayburn home to make it 2-1. Boesch went to second when catcher Chris Gimenez made an errant flip to Tomlin at the plate.
Tied up: Hafner pulled the Indians into a 2-2 tie with a bases-loaded single in the third.
Go-ahead run: The Tigers recaptured the lead on Brandon Inge's sac-fly in the fourth to score Miguel Cabrera, who doubled to start the inning.
The line: Tomlin allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings. He struck out two and walked two, while throwing 101 pitches, including 67 strikes. It was his first start in nine days.
Pre-game notes:
Game 123: OK, so third base is a mess and it's not going to get any better through the remainder of this season. It doesn't matter if the Indians call up Jared Goedert from Class AAA Columbus or Lonnie Chisenhall from Class AA Akron when the roster expands in September.
Goedert has made 16 errors in 42 games at Columbus. Chisenhall has made 15 in 80 games at third in Class AA Akron. Goedert still needs to work on his defense. The Indians say Chisenhall is still working on the conversion from short to third.
In the big leagues, manager Manny Acta's options go from bad to worse, but when next season starts here's one thing you can bank on -- Jayson Nix, Andy Marte or Luis Valbuena will not be the starting third baseman. They might not even be on the ballclub.
Acta feels much better about second base. The candidates are Jason Donald, Nix and Valbuena in the big leagues. In the minors, Cord Phelps has impressed the Indians with the way he's hit this year at Columbus (.327, 16 doubles, three triples, six homers and 28 RBI in 258 at-bats) after positing similar numbers at the start of the year Class AA Akron.
Jason Kipnis, meanwhile, is hitting .331 (80-for-242) with 16 doubles, four triples, nine homers and 36 RBI at Akron.
"We have three guys here who have a chance to play second base," said Kipnis. "If we find a solid third baseman (in the offseason). Then you Nix, Donald or Valbuena to play second base.
"Plus we have kids in our farm system. I believe we have more options at second than third in our system."
Quick hits:
-Acta said the MRI on Michael Brantley's left ankle was "clean." He twisted the ankle Thursday night in Kansas City and will spent the rest of the weekend in Cleveland rehabbing the ankle.
-Acta on Jhonny Peralta: "Jhonny was a nice player for this franchise. He drove in a lot of runs here. . .I miss him because Jhonny is a great human being. He cares. He doesn't wear it on his sleeve. He's out there every day. That gives every manager peace of mind."
-Jason Knapp made his 2010 debut at Class A Lake County Friday. He threw four scoreless innings, walking two and striking out seven. Knapp, including five starts in the Arizona Rookie League, has struck out 25 and walked six in 16 1/3 innings.
Knapp, acquired in the Cliff Lee deal from the Phillies last year, missed most of this season while recovering from right shoulder surgery.
Lineups:
Indians (48-72): CF Trevor Crowe (S), SS Asdrubal Cabrera (S), RF Shin-Soo Choo (L), DH Travis Hafner (L), 3B Jayson Nix (R), LF Shelley Duncan (R), 1B Matt LaPorta (R), 2B Jason Donald (R), C Chris Gimenez (R) and RHP Josh Tomlin (1-2, 2.96).
Tigers (59-63): CF Austin Jackson (R), 2B Will Rhymes (L), LF Ryan Raburn (R), DH Miguel Cabrera (R), RF Brennan Boesch (L), SS Jhonny Peralta (R), 3B Brandon Inge (R), C Alex Avila (L), LF Don Kelly (L) and RHP Max Scherzer (8-9, 3.86).
Umpires: H Ted Barrett, 1B, Tony Randazzo, 2B Paul Nauert, 3B Brian Gorman. Gorman, crew chief.
Quote of the day: "God knows I gave my best in baseball at all times and no man on earth can truthfully judge me otherwise," Shoeless Joe Jackson, banned from baseball for life for his part in throwing the 1919 World Series as a member of the Chicago White Sox, from Baseball Almanac.\
Next: RHP Jeanmar Gomez (3-1, 1.84) vs. RHP Justin Verlander (13-8, 3.77) Sunday at 1:05 p.m.