Indians top Tigers, lead by half-game

Paul Byrd got his sixth mound win and was backed by three homers

DETROIT (AP) — Casey Blake and Victor Martinez hit first-inning homers and the Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers 7-4 on Friday night.

The game was the first of seven between the AL Central’s top teams in the next 10 days. The Indians’ victory gave them a half-game lead over Detroit.

Paul Byrd (5-1) allowed four runs and nine hits in 61⁄3 innings to improve to 4-0 in his last six starts. He struck out four, walked none and hasn’t lost since April 21 at Tampa Bay.

Rafael Betancourt came in for Byrd and allowed one hit in 12⁄3 scoreless innings and Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his 15th save in 17 tries.

Blake hit a drive to left off Nate Robertson with one out in the first for his fifth homer in 26 career at-bats against the left-hander. It was Blake’s sixth of the season.

Martinez makes it 2-0

Robertson (4-4) struck out Travis Hafner before Martinez homered into the tunnel beyond the right-field fence to make it 2-0.

Robertson went 52⁄3 innings, giving up five runs, 10 hits and three walks. He dropped to 1-3 in his last four starts.

Josh Barfield hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Grady Sizemore singled in a run in the sixth to make it 5-1.

The Tigers put together a two-run rally in the bottom half of the sixth. Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen doubled with two outs.

Ivan Rodriguez then hit a slow grounder that trickled into center field as Guillen easily scored to make it 5-3.

Craig Monroe, who was robbed of a homer by Jason Michaels in the third, hit a ball just a little higher in the seventh for his sixth of the season to make it a one-run game.

Hafner tripled in Blake and Jhonny Peralta hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth to get some breathing room for Borowski, who allowed a leadoff single to Sean Casey before retiring the next three hitters.

Notes

Ordonez has scored at least once in eight straight games. ... Gary Sheffield went 0-for-3 against Byrd, lowering his career average to .095 (2-21) against him. ... Tigers setup man Fernando Rodney is expected to miss the entire weekend series with tightness in his shoulder, but he said before the game that he does not consider it serious. ... The game drew a sellout crowd of 40,074 on a 70-degree night. ... Byrd has made five starts in May, totaling 34 innings, and has not walked a single batter.