Byrd Good, Offense Good Enough as Indians Beat Tigers 4-2

If there is one thing that the Indians can take some pride in so far in 2008 - the Tigers are worse than they are. That fact was proven once again on Friday night at Comerica Park, as the Indians used a three-run fourth and a solid pitching outing from Paul Byrd to top the Tigers 4-2 in the first of a four-game set. Byrd went seven innings, allowing two runs on just four hits. He didn’t allow a walk and struck out two. He made two mistakes, allowing two solo homers, but otherwise had maybe his best outing of 2008.
The offense was paced by Casey Blake and Franklin Gutierrez. Blake hit a key one-out double in the 4th off of losing pitcher Justin Verlander that scored two to give the Tribe a 2-0 lead. Gutierrez then came up with a single to left that scored David Dellucci to make it 3-0, enough for the Indians and Byrd. With the team leading 3-2 in the 8th, Ryan Garko hit a big homer to deep left off reliever Denny Bautista to make it 4-2.
Masa Kobayashi came in and pitched the 8th without allowing any damage, and then Joe Borowski pitched the ninth, allowing one hit, but striking out one and earning his 5th save of the season. Byrd with the win improves to 3-5 on the season, and drops his ERA to 4.46.
The Tribe improves to 28-33 on the season, dropping the Tigers to 24-36, losers of four straight. Aaron Laffey (3-3, 3.02) goes tomorrow for the Indians at 3:55pm vs Kenny Rogers (4-4, 5.54).








Matt has covered Major League Baseball and the "other two" Pro teams in Cleveland since 1994. He has been on the beat of the Indians in full-time mode since 1996, working for various raido and print networks around the country.