Indians Pound Tigers Pitching, 10-1
DAVE HOGG
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Corey Kluber struck out 10 over eight impressive innings, Yan Gomes homered and drove in five runs, and the Cleveland Indians routed the Detroit Tigers 10-1 Saturday.
Kluber (1-3) happily accepted the offensive output to earn his first win of the season. The 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner, who went 9-16 last year, gave up two hits and no walks in eight innings.
Kluber had gotten just three runs of support in his first three starts. This was his fifth game with at least 10 strikeouts and zero walks since the start of the 2014 season — only Clayton Kershaw (8) and Max Scherzer (6) have more.
Gomes came in hitting .143 with one RBI and no extra-base hits in his last eight game. He singled home a run in the first, hit a three-run homer in the third and added an RBI double in the seventh. It was his second career five-RBI game.
Anibal Sanchez (2-2) struggled for the second straight start, allowing seven runs while only getting seven outs. In his last two starts, he has allowed 12 runs on 17 hits in 7 1/3 innings.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his sixth homer for the Tigers.
The Tigers fell behind early yet again, as Sanchez gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in a 32-pitch first inning.
Gomes homered during a three-run third. The Indians ended up hitting for the cycle in the inning.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Indians: OF Michael Brantley (right shoulder surgery) went 0 for 3 with a walk Friday night in his first rehab game with Triple-A Columbus. He played for Double-A Akron on Wednesday, then worked out with Cleveland on Wednesday. He could be activated during Cleveland's series in Minnesota next week.
Tigers: OF Cameron Maybin (broken wrist) was scheduled to resume his rehab stint Saturday with Triple-A Toledo. He was hitting .216 in 10 games between Single-A Lakeland and Toledo when he was hit by a pitch on his bad wrist.
TEN YEARS AGO
The Tigers honored Craig Monroe before the game, the first of several times they will recognize key players from the 2006 Tigers. In Jim Leyland's first season, Detroit went to the World Series for the first time since 1984 before losing to St. Louis. Monroe threw out the ceremonial first pitch, which was caught by another member of the 2006 team, Justin Verlander.
UP NEXT
The teams finish a three-game series on Sunday afternoon with Detroit's Shane Greene (1-1, 7.15 ERA) facing Carlos Carrasco (2-0, 2.79). History would point to a high-scoring game, as Greene has a 9.00 ERA in two starts against Cleveland while Carrasco is 4-6 with a 6.29 ERA in 15 games (10 starts) against the Tigers.
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