Indians come up short against Tigers. Francona headed back to Boston for 4 game series with the Sox.

The Indians once again hit Justin Verlander well, and often. But after falling behind the Tigers 9-3 in Cleveland last night, the Tribe could not pull off the comeback. 2 rain delays stretched the game, and the Tribe battled back to pull within 2 runs at 9-7. The Tigers won 11-7. The Indians are 26-19 and one-half  game ahead of the 25-19 Tigers for 1st place in the AL Central. Cleveland starts a 4 game series with the Red Sox in Fenway park tonight. It will be Terry Francona's first return to Boston since taking over as the Indians manager. The last series with Boston was in Cleveland back on April 16-18. The Tribe lost all 3 games. Boston is 28-19,  2nd in the AL East trailing the division leading Yankees by one-half game.  Zach McAllister (3-3  2.65 ERA) will take the hill for the Indians tonight. Zach last pitched on May 18th vs the Mariners. He went 7 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, walking 1 and striking out 1. The Indians won 5-4 on a walk-off single from Mark Reynolds.   His last game against Boston was on April 18th, going 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, walking 3 and striking out 7. The Tribe lost 3-6. The Sox will send Ryan Dempster, a righty from the Great White North, out to face the Tribe. Dempster (2-4  2.47 ERA) last pitched 4 and 2/3 innings in Minnesota on May 18th. He gave up 5 runs on 8 hits, walking 6 and striking out 2. The Sox downed the Twins 12-5. Dempster has not faced the Indians this season.