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AP

Brandon Inge has gone from castoff to hero in record time, as a walkoff grand slam gave him his second straight four-RBI game Tuesday in Oakland’s 7-3 win over Toronto.

The slam came off Francisco Cordero, who quickly blew his third save in a row by giving up a double, a sac bunt and an RBI single in what had been a 3-2 game. After that, a steal and two intentional walks set up Inge’s slam. Cordero, who is filling in for the injured Sergio Santos in Toronto, has allowed runs in four straight appearances, taking blown saves in three of them, and his ERA is up to 9.53.

The Inge homer may well have brought an end to Cordero’s tenure as Toronto’s closer. The 36-year-old, who has 329 career saves under his belt, was signed to set up Santos after Cincinnati declined to bring him back. The Jays could go to a combination or Jason Frasor and Darren Oliver in the ninth for the short term.

As for Inge, well, he’s managed a pretty remarkable total of 11 RBI despite having just seven hits this season. His place in Oakland’s lineup seems assured for the foreseeable future.

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Tigers catcher Alex Avila limped through last year’s postseason, batting just .073/.116/.146 in 44 plate appearances while dealing with left patella tendinitis.

He got over the issue this winter and has enjoyed a decent start (.250/.333/.463 in 23 games) to the 2012 campaign. But that knee tendinitis is back.

According to Tom Gage of the Detroit News, Avila will be sidelined for “at least” the Tigers’ next two games due to renewed patella soreness. And there’s legitimate concern that he’ll have many more absences in the future.

The Tigers will turn to veteran backup Gerald Laird for now. If Avila’s patella tendinitis lingers like it did throughout last October, outside options may have to be considered.

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