Carmona sharp, Indians’ bats hot

The Tribe routed Detroit, 11-1, Thursday night.

GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

CLEVELAND — For one night, at least, the old Indians were back.

Fausto Carmona allowed one run over 62‚Ñ3 innings, every batter in the starting lineup had a hit and six different Indians drove in runs Thursday as Cleveland vanquished Detroit, 11-1, at Progressive Field.

The victory was reminiscent of the magical 2007 season and the polar opposite of what, to date, had been a lousy 2008.

“We needed a game like this,” said Indians outfielder Jason Michaels, who drove in three runs and bumped up his season batting average 48 points (.091 to .139) with two hits.

Carmona certainly needed one like this. He had walked eight batters in his most recent start against Oakland, and 17 in 16 innings this season. His only walk Thursday came during the first inning and he carried a shutout into the sixth.

“I made sure my arm stayed behind my body,” Carmona said through interpreter Luis Rivera. “I try to learn something from every start. Last time, I learned I need to make some adjustments.”

Carmona (2-1) corrected that mechanical flaw and limited the Tigers to one run after they had loaded the bases with none out in the sixth. Michaels saved Carmona’s ERA when he fielded Carlos Guillen’s single to left and fired a throw home that arrived ahead of Detroit baserunner Gary Sheffield.

“Fausto threw the ball where he wanted to,” manager Eric Wedge said. “He had a much better feel for the baseball tonight.”

Did Carmona threw the ball where he wanted to when he hit Ramon Santiago and Sheffield with consecutive pitches in the sixth? There were seven batters plunked during the rather testy two-game set.

“The first guy was a slider and the second guy, I wanted to throw low-and-in and just hit him,” Carmona said.

The Indians reached their season high in runs (11) and hits (13). Tigers starter Justin Verlander (0-3) gave up seven hits and four walks as his season ERA rose to 7.03.

A three-run second inning against Verlander included Michaels’ sacrifice fly, an RBI double down the first-base line on Casey Blake’s excuse-me swing and Jamey Carroll’s RBI infield hit.

“Casey stuck his nose in there,” first baseman Ryan Garko said. “I know it was an ugly swing, but he got it.”

“That wasn’t an ugly swing,” Blake said in mock self-defense. “That’s called keeping your hands inside the ball.”

Garko hit a two-run home run later in the game, as did Travis Hafner. Garko has reached safely in all 16 games and has a nine-game hitting streak.

The Indians had conducted a pregame meeting Thursday to discuss their sputtering start. Apparently, something of significance was said.

“Today we came out with a lot more fire, a lot more determination,” Michaels said.