Gerut homers twice, drives in 5 as Indians cruise over Detroit

Carlos Pena and Shane Halter homered for Detroit which has 99 losses.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Jody Gerut hit a home run on the first pitch he saw, and he didn't stop there.
Gerut homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs, powering the Cleveland Indians to an 8-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.
Gerut hit his 17th homer off Jeremy Bonderman (6-18) to put the Indians ahead 2-0 in the first inning and hit a three-run shot off Bonderman in the fifth to make it 7-3 as Cleveland won the final two games of a three-game series. Gerut went 4-for-8 with three homers and nine RBIs in the two wins.
"The last time I hit 18 homers was in college and I guess I'm kind of surprised," he said. "I don't think homers are going to be a huge part of my game. I don't want to be labeled a power hitter. I hit line drives. Those two just got up."
Horrible season
Detroit lost for the 99th time and must sweep a three-game weekend series at home against the Chicago White Sox to avoid losing 100 games before September.
"We're in uncharted waters," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "It hasn't gone the way I scripted it."
Josh Bard drove in two runs for Cleveland with three hits, including his fourth homer.
Gerut has batted .285 with 64 RBIs since being called up April 26. He believes Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui, however, will be the AL rookie of the year.
"I think Matsui has that in the bag," Gerut said. "He can have it, that's OK with me. For some reason, winning that sometimes does something to a player's psyche."
Lee wins
Rookie Cliff Lee (3-1) allowed three runs and five hits over seven innings in his fourth start. He walked two and struck out seven.
"I didn't really have good command until I finally figured out my slider was working and I went with it," Lee said.
Carlos Pena and Shane Halter hit solo homers for Detroit -- giving the Tigers 20 bases-empty shots in their last 28 homers.
"They have some guys who will drop a bomb on you if you make a mistake," Lee said. "But with a lead, you want to attack the strike zone. If they hit a solo shot it doesn't hurt you that much."
Bonderman allowed five earned runs and nine hits over 42/3 innings, tying teammate Mike Maroth for the major league lead in losses. The last pitcher to lose 20 in a season was Oakland's Brian Kingman, who went 8-20 in 1980.
"If they lose 20, that's the way it is," Trammell said. "As of now, they are going to pitch because we don't have a lot of options."
Bonderman, a 20-year-old rookie right-hander, fell behind quickly.
Cleveland's second batter, Omar Vizquel, reached on an error when left fielder Craig Monroe dropped his line drive. Gerut hooked the next pitch around the right-field foul pole.
Pena made it 2-1 with a 431-foot shot to right-center in the second -- his sixth homer in 15 games and 16th of the season.
Halter hit his eighth homer to bring Detroit to 4-3 in the fifth.