Carmona Leads Indians Past Tigers 5-2, And Into First-Place Tie

CLEVELAND (AP) _ Deciding the fight for the AL Central title is going to take a while. <br/><br/>Fausto Carmona struck out a career-high 10 and finally got his 14th win as the Cleveland Indians regained

Wednesday, August 15th 2007, 10:02 pm

By: News On 6


CLEVELAND (AP) _ Deciding the fight for the AL Central title is going to take a while.

Fausto Carmona struck out a career-high 10 and finally got his 14th win as the Cleveland Indians regained a share of the division lead with Detroit by beating the Tigers 5-2 on Wednesday night to split the two-game showdown series.

Carmona (14-7) dominated Detroit, allowing one earned run and four hits in eight innings. He snapped a personal three-game losing streak, a skid during which the slumping Indians scored just two runs.

But staked to an early 3-1 lead, Carmona unleashed his filthy breaking pitches on the Tigers, retiring 13 of 14 in one stretch, and picked up his first win since beating Boston 1-0 on July 25.

The timing couldn't have been better for the Indians, who had forgotten what it was like to win in front of their fans. Cleveland is just 5-13 at Jacobs Field after starting the season 33-13 at home.

The Tigers and Indians, who have both struggled while flip-flopping in and out of first place the past few weeks, will play six more times. Cleveland visits Detroit from Aug. 21-23, and the Tigers return to Jacobs Field from Sept. 17-19.

Franklin Gutierrez hit a two-run homer for Cleveland in the second off rookie Jair Jurrjens (0-1), a 21-year-old right-hander who was called up from Double-A Erie to make his major league debut in a pressure-packed pennant race.

Jurrjens gave up four runs and five hits in seven innings, a solid performance considering the setting.

Carmona took a two-hitter and a 4-1 lead into the eighth, and was on the verge of being chased when he came up with his biggest pitches.

Brandon Inge singled and scored on Curtis Granderson's major league-leading 19th triple, a drive that Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore couldn't quite reach at the wall. With the teeth of Detroit's lineup coming up, Carmona struck out Marcus Thames, retired Gary Sheffield on a line drive to shortstop and got Magglio Ordonez, the AL's leading hitter, to foul out to first.

The Indians scored once in the eighth to give Joe Borowski a little more cushion, and Cleveland's closer, who gave up four runs in the 10th inning of Monday's 6-2 loss, worked the ninth for his 33rd save in 37 tries.

The Tigers were undermanned and under the weather. All-Stars Ivan Rodriguez and Placido Polanco sat out with a flu bug that infested Detroit's clubhouse. Outfielder Craig Monroe and closer Todd Jones were also sick and didn't play, and the Tigers were hoping Justin Verlander, scheduled to start Thursday's series opener in New York, would shake off his symptoms in time to face the Yankees.

Cleveland manager Eric Wedge, highly critical of the Indians after they dropped their fourth straight on Tuesday, benched second baseman Josh Barfield and used Gutierrez instead of lefty Trot Nixon.

The subtle move paid off as Gutierrez's eighth homer, an opposite-field shot to right, gave Carmona a rare lead in the second.

Travis Hafner, who joked before the game that he would try to avoid hurting a pulled hamstring worse by hitting stand-up doubles, did just that leading off. With two outs, Gutierrez drove a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right-center as the Indians matched their run total in Carmona's three previous starts.

Gutierrez's shot also ended an 0-for-15 slide with runners in scoring position for the Indians.

Cleveland extended its tenuous lead to 3-1 in the third on Victor Martinez's RBI single.

The Tigers scored an unearned run off Carmona in the second.

Notes: Hafner might be slow on the basepaths, but his comedic timing is up to speed. Asked before the game if the sore knee and hamstring he has are similar to any previous injuries, he quipped, ``I don't run fast enough to have leg problems.'' ... Following their four-game series in New York, the Tigers will host the Indians for three games and the Yankees for four. ... Jurrjens is the fourth Detroit pitcher to make his first major league start this season.
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