Kluber's 8 Innings Lead Indians Past Tigers
By Dave Hogg
DETROIT (AP) — Corey Kluber pitched eight strong innings and the Cleveland Indians won their 10th straight game with a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.
The Indians are on their longest winning streak since taking a franchise-record 14 in a row between June 17 and July 1, 2016.
Cleveland has outscored Detroit 18-4 in the first three games of the series.
The Tigers, who just traded Justin Upton and Justin Verlander, were also missing Miguel Cabrera, Alex Wilson and manager Brad Ausmus. All three were serving the first game of suspensions stemming from an Aug. 24 brawl with the New York Yankees.
Kluber (14-4) gave up one run and eight hits, striking out seven without walking a batter. Alex Presley went 4 for 4 against Kluber for his first four-hit game.
Bryan Shaw allowed two singles in the ninth, and Cody Allen allowed an RBI single to Jose Iglesias before retiring Ian Kinsler for his 23rd save.
Jordan Zimmermann (8-12) allowed five runs and 12 hits in five innings. He is 1-3 with an 11.03 ERA in his last five starts.
The Indians scored four runs in the first inning to take control of the game.
With one out, Bradley Zimmer and Jose Ramirez hit back-to-back triples, and Edwin Encarnacion made it 2-0 with a single through the drawn-in infield. Carlos Santana doubled to right-center, and after Lonnie Chisenhall popped out, Abraham Almonte hit a two-run single up the middle.
The Tigers got runners to third base in the third and fourth innings, but Kluber escaped both times.
Chisenhall and Almonte made it 5-0 with back-to-back doubles in the fifth, but the Tigers got on the board with Bryan Holaday's RBI single in the seventh.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Indians: CF Zimmer left the game in the fourth inning and was being evaluated for a possible head injury sustained while diving for Holaday's double in the third.
Tigers: DH Victor Martinez (irregular heartbeat) will miss the rest of the season after having a minor surgical procedure to fix the issue. He's expected to be ready for spring training in 2018.
FAREWELL GIFTS
Two days after being traded, Verlander and Upton were named the Tigers pitcher and hitter of the month for August.
UP NEXT
The teams finish the four-game weekend series on Sunday, with Cleveland's Josh Tomlin (7-9, 5.38) facing Tigers rookie Chad Bell (0-1, 5.48). Bell will be making his first major-league start after spending most of this season pitching long relief. Tomlin will be pitching for the first time since July 30 after a hamstring strain.
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