Sowers pitches Tribe past Tigers, 4-2

Saturday, August 26, 2006 He went six solid innings for his third straight victory. CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie Jeremy Sowers won his third straight start with six solid innings, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 4-2 win over the suddenly staggering Detroit Tigers on Friday night. Sowers (6-3) gave up two runs in the second inning, but blanked baseball's best team for the next four as the Indians snapped a four-game losing streak to Detroit. Cleveland is just 5-12 against the Tigers this season. Detroit, which entered the weekend leading the AL Central by 51/2 games, has lost three straight, six of eight, and is just 5-12 since Aug. 8 — when the Tigers led their division by 10. The Tigers had five hits through the first two innings, but managed only one hit and one baserunner over the final seven, an infield single by Omar Infante in the fourth. Making his first career start against Detroit, the 23-year-old Sowers allowed two runs and six hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out four. The left-hander is 5-0 with a 1.69 ERA in his past seven starts. Good relief pitching Fernando Cabrera pitched two perfect innings and Rafael Betancourt worked the ninth for his first save in four tries. Cleveland's newest closer Tom Mastny had the night off after pitching in Cleveland's previous two games. The Indians handed Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman (11-6) just his second road loss this season. He gave up four runs and seven hits in 61/3 innings and remained winless in his last six starts. Trailing 2-1, Cleveland scored three times in the third, and if not for a baserunning blunder, the Indians could have had more. Grady Sizemore doubled leading off and hustled to third on Casey Blake's flyout to center. Tigers manager Jim Leyland chose to walk Indians designated hitter Travis Hafner to set up a possible double play, but Victor Martinez sabotaged the strategy with a run-scoring single to tie it 2-2. Base running mistake Shin-Soo Choo followed by ripping a grounder into the right-field corner to score Hafner, and Cleveland's left fielder was thinking triple all the way and never bothered to look at third-base coach Joel Skinner as he rounded second. There was one little problem: the slow-footed Martinez stopped at third and Choo had nowhere to go and was tagged out after a brief rundown. Jhonny Peralta, though, came through with an RBI single to make it 4-2. The Tigers scored twice in the second off Sowers on RBI singles by Infante and Brandon Inge. Notes Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, who made his first major league start 70 years ago this week, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. On Aug. 23, 1936, the 17-year-old Feller struck out 15 St. Louis Browns and earned the first of his 266 career wins. At the time, the 15 Ks were two shy of the major league record. ... Sizemore has played in all 127 games this season and 160 consecutive games dating to last year. Joe Carter (1989) was the last Indians player to play in all 162 games. ... Detroit entered the series with a major league-best 41 road wins. After their visit to Cleveland and an off day, the Tigers will open a three-game series in New York on Tuesday. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.