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A somewhat old version of Fausto Carmona came to play Thursday afternoon, unfortunately so did the bad old Rafael Perez. This was yet another game in which the Indians had plenty of chances to win, but came up short as they ended their stay in Detroit by getting swept. This loss was a 4-3 extra innings heart-breaker.

The bottom of the first began with Curtis Granderson taking Carmona deep to put the Tigers ahead 1-0. I for one thought this was the start of another lost day for the embattled Indians starter. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Carmona buckled down from that point on, completely shutting down the Tiger bats over the next six innings. After a second inning, two-out single by Ramon Santiago, the big right-hander used his change-up and power sinker to hold Detroit hitless over the next four and two-thirds innings. While he did walk five, Fausto came up with the big pitches when he needed them.

But while Carmona was baffling the Motor City Kitties, the Indian attack was being worked over by journeyman lefthander Nate Robertson. The man who has been owned by Casey Blake during his career (11-33/6 HR/8 RBI) kept the Tribe off balance for six scoreless innings. This was a classic case of “get-away day at-bats” by the Red, White, and Blue. They showed little patience at the dish as Robertson allowed just four hits in a tidy 80 pitches.

Heading into the seventh, all the Tribe needed was a little help from the bats. Reliever Ryan Perry retired Jhonny Peralta, Matt LaPorta, and Andy Marte in order. In the home half, Carmona began to tire. After recording a Santiago ground-ball out, he walked ninth place batter Adam Everett and leadoff man Curtis Granderson, bringing the left-handed Clete Thomas to the plate. With lefty Tony Sipp ready in the pen, manager Eric Wedge stuck with Carmona, who hadn’t allowed a hit since the second. He owed it to his starter, who had been pitching so well.Working against Wedge’s thought process was this stat: lefties were hitting .332 off of Carmona this season.

It turned out to be the wrong move.

Thomas tripled to the gap in right-center, scoring two, putting the Tigers ahead 3-0. That was all for Fausto. For the day, he allowed just four hits to go with the three runs in 6.1 IP. “I really liked his tempo,” said Wedge. “I liked the way he pitched today. The walks weren’t good, but he was able to right himself several times.”

Sipp wiggled out of the jam by striking out both pinch hitters Ryan Raburn and Magglio Ordonez.

On a day where the Indians looked like they would have no shot to make a comeback, they put on their hard hats and went to work in the eighth. Kelly Shoppach’s one out double chased Perry, bringing in Fu-Te Ni, who came in eating left-handed batters for lunch. Lefties were just 6-44 coming into the day against him. After getting Grady Sizemore to line out, Jamey Carroll barely beat out an infield single, bringing the tying run to the plate. Asdrubal Cabrera singled to put the Tribe on the board. Next was Shin-Soo Choo.

Choo, who continues to show he is a star in the making, doubled to the gap in spacious right-field, scoring both JC and AC and we were all tied. From that point forward, it became a battle of the bullpens; Zach Miner for the Tigers, and Perez Right and Perez Left for the Indians.

Miner didn’t allow a hit during his 2.1 innings of work. Chris Perez matched him pitch for pitch over the same two innings, striking out three. The power-throwing righty who resembles Paul Shuey with the beard he is currently sporting, has now tossed 20 consecutive scoreless innings. He has lowered his ERA to 2.42. With three straight righties coming up, Wedge made the curious decision to follow Chris Perez with lefty Rafael Perez, rather than going to Joe Smith.

This was another move that backfired on the Grinder. Raburn hit a lazer double over Sizemore’s head in center. Miguel Cabrera was smartly intentionally walked. Ordonez then walked unintentionally, loading the bases with nobody out for Placido Polanco. The Tiger second basemen is one of the hardest players in the game to strike out, hit a lazy fly ball to center – not that deep. However, with Sizemore’s arm all but shot, Raburn would easily score, giving the Tigers a 4-3 win.

If you saw the throw Grady made home, you can see the reason why he should either DH or be shut down right now for the rest of the season. He barely reached the cut-off man at the mound. I credit Grady for gutting it out with an elbow that is clearly bothering him, but at this point with the season long over, isn’t it better for him to get his offseason rehab started?

Trevor Crowe will soon return for the DL and with Michael Brantley up, those two can clearly cover the position. Brantley, a pure leadoff man, can assume that role as well.

Regardless, the Indians head home for a weekend series with the Twins.