If you've found something else to do this summer besides cutting out Indians boxscores and taping them in a scrapbook, manager Manny Acta set the record straight after a 5-2 loss to the Tigers on Saturday night at Comerica Park that bore a striking resemblance to Friday's 6-0 loss.
DETROIT -- If you haven't figured it out by now, shame on you. Then again, it's hard to blame anyone for ignoring the Indians.
If you've found something else to do this summer besides cutting out Indians boxscores and taping them in a scrapbook, manager Manny Acta set the record straight after a 5-2 loss to the Tigers on Saturday night at Comerica Park that bore a striking resemblance to Friday's 6-0 loss.
Resemblance because in Friday's loss, the Indians had three hits. Saturday night, they had four. Friday night, they lost in 2 hours 30 minutes. Saturday night's defeat was administered in 2 hours 29 minutes.
It wasn't the Gettysburg Address, but Acta's state of the Indians address should be chiseled into one of the walls at Progressive Field. If this franchise ever does get things right again, it can be given a place of honor like the Magna Carta or the original screenplay of "Caddyshack."
"This is our team," said Acta, when asked about the lack of offense. "I'm not expecting Jason Donald, I'm not expecting Shelley Duncan, I'm not expecting Jayson Nix and I'm not expecting Trevor Crowe to, overnight, turn into Robinson Cano, Evan Longoria, Matt Holliday or Grady Sizemore.
"This is our team. No whining, work hard, good attitude, wear it and take it like a man. This is our club."
Does that mean there has been whining?
"No, it means I'm not going to whine," said Acta. "This is my team. I know what we have here. We just have to continue to work with these guys. At the end of the season we'll know what we had here. Plain and simple."
The Indians, plain and simple, didn't hit again Saturday. Max Scherzer (9-9, 3.73 ERA) allowed two runs, one earned, in seven innings. Scherzer, Phil Coke and Jose Valverde combined on a four-hitter. Valverde earned his 24th save as the Indians never advanced a runner past second base after the third.
The Tribe had one chance to call the game its own. They loaded the bases in the third when Chris Gimenez walked, Crowe singled and Asdrubal Cabrera reached on a bunt hit.
"That was it," said Acta. "We had the bases loaded, no outs with our third, fourth and fifth hitters coming up. We could only score one run. That was our best chance to turn the score."
Scherzer struck out Shin-Soo Choo, gave up an RBI single to Travis Hafner and induced Nix to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
"You would definitely like to get more out of that inning," said Hafner.
Josh Tomlin, after nine days off to protect his right arm and limit his innings, allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings. Tomlin (1-3, 3.86) wasn't that bad, but he wasn't that good.
He said he kept throwing his cut fastball because it's his best pitch. The trouble was it wasn't acting like it Saturday night.
"They had six extra-base hits off Josh," said Acta. "He got a little cutter happy, but he's best when he mixes all his pitches."
Tomlin, who said the extra rest didn't bother him, agreed.
"I was throwing the cutter too much," he said. "Plus it wasn't very good. It was up over the plate and not moving much. It's an easy pitch to hit then."
The Tigers put the game away with two runs in the fifth for a 5-2 lead on Don Kelly's leadoff homer and Brennan Boesch's double.
The Indians and Tigers combined for three errors in the first. The Tigers emerged from the rubble with a 2-1 lead.
The Tribe took a 1-0 lead off Scherzer when Choo reached on a two-out error by Will Rhymes at second base, stole second and scored when Boesch botched Hafner's sinking liner to right for the second error.
Jackson 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 tangled and had to settle for the force at second.
Tomlin wild pitched Raburn home to make it 2-1. Boesch went to second when catcher Chris Gimenez made an errant flip to Tomlin at the plate.
After Hafner's bases-loaded single made it 2-2, the Tigers recaptured the lead on Brandon Inge's sacrifice fly in the fourth.