Field Level Media
Jul 29, 2018
Corey Kluber bounced back from two subpar outings, Cleveland batters backed him with three homers and the visiting Indians cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Kluber (13-6) gave up one run on five hits in 7 1/3 innings while striking out five. The Indians ace surrendered nine earned runs and three homers while losing his last two starts.
Yonder Alonso had three hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs. Edwin Encarnacion contributed a solo shot among two hits and drove in two runs, and Melky Cabrera supplied three hits, including his first long ball of the season.
Rajai Davis also had three of the Indians' 16 hits and scored a run.
Cleveland has defeated Detroit in 12 of 16 meetings this season, including two of three in the weekend series.
Detroit starter Jordan Zimmermann gave up five runs on six hits in three innings.
Zimmermann quickly ran into trouble, giving up a first-inning run. Michael Brantley lined a one-out triple to center and scored on Jose Ramirez's sacrifice fly.
The Tigers got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Leonys Martin singled and advanced to third on Niko Goodrum's double. Nicholas Castellanos knocked in Martin with a sacrifice fly.
The Indians regained the lead in the second on Cabrera's homer down the right-field line. Cleveland tacked on another run in the inning on singles by Jason Kipnis, Yan Gomes and Francisco Lindor.
The Indians made it 5-1 in the third when Ramirez walked and Alonso blasted his 18th homer over the right-field wall.
Castellanos threw out Encarnacion from right field when Encarnacion tried to score from second on a single in the fifth.
The Tigers left a runner stranded at third in the bottom of the inning as Martin flied out.
Encarnacion's 24th homer in the seventh increased Cleveland's lead to five. The Indians left the bases loaded later in the inning.
Cleveland tacked on two more runs in the eighth on Encarnacion's RBI single and Alonso's run-scoring double.