Scherzer, Tigers shut down Tribe

Associated Press

DETROIT

It took until late August, but Max Scherzer finally beat an AL Central opponent.

In his 10th start against a division rival, Scherzer allowed two runs — one earned — in seven innings to lead the Detroit Tigers past the Cleveland Indians 5-2 Saturday night.

“That happens,” Scherzer said. “When you are in the majors and you don’t bring your A-game, every team out there can beat you. In those games, I didn’t pitch my best, and they beat me. Tonight, I pitched effectively, and we got a win.”

Scherzer (9-9) allowed two or fewer runs for the fifth straight start, and is now 8-5 with a 2.28 ERA after spending two starts with Triple-A Toledo in May.

“The way he handled that was one of the biggest things that has happened to him,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “He went down with the perfect attitude — that he belonged up here, but he had to fix some things to get back to this level. He’s getting better all of the time.

Scherzer, who gave up four hits while striking out eight, said the difference has been strictly mechanical.

“I’m able to command three pitches again,” he said. “Tonight, I was able to show my slider, and my changeup was really good. I’m executing pitches. That’s the only difference between then and now.”

Don Kelly homered and Austin Jackson doubled, singled and scored twice for the Tigers.

Phil Coke pitched a perfect eighth for the Tigers and Jose Valverde closed for his 24th straight successful save.

“That was just a good baseball game all around,” said Brandon Inge. “We remember that we lost four straight at their place, so we know that we are going to have to work hard to beat them.”

Detroit pitchers have only allowed two runs on seven hits in the first two games of the weekend series.

“This is a very young team, and we have to work through stretches like this,” Indians manager Manny Acta said.