Bottom’s up: Marte, Grudzielanek lift Tribe

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The Cleveland Indians got needed offense from the bottom third of their lineup and finally beat the Detroit Tigers.

Andy Marte drove in three runs, Mark Grudzielanek had three hits and two RBIs, and Cleveland broke a 10-game losing streak against Detroit with a 7-4 victory on Sunday. The Indians had lost five straight overall.

“It feels good to get a home win,” manager Manny Acta said after Cleveland concluded a 2-6 homestand with its first victory over Detroit since Aug. 2.

“We have not been getting enough out of the seventh, eighth and ninth spots, so that was good,” Acta said after Grudzielanek, Marte and Lou Marson went a combined 5 for 9 with three runs and six RBIs.

Magglio Ordonez had two hits and two RBIs for Detroit, which couldn’t overcome another rough outing by Max Scherzer. Austin Jackson had two hits and scored twice.

Ordonez doubled in Jackson and rookie Brennan Boesch hit a tying sacrifice fly in the fifth, but Cleveland went ahead in the bottom half before adding two more in the seventh.

Grudzielanek hit a tiebreaking RBI single off Scherzer (1-3) in the fifth and singled in another run in the seventh to make it 6-4. Marte added a sacrifice fly for Cleveland’s final run.

“The last month, we’ve been behind the 8-ball,” Grudzielanek said of the Indians, who entered play Sunday second-last in the AL in scoring. “We’re not giving up because of a bad month or bad week. We’re going to start hitting.”

Four relievers held the Tigers to two hits over the final four innings. Chris Perez worked the ninth for his fifth save in seven chances. The right-hander gave up a single and walk before retiring three straight.

Left-hander Tony Sipp struck out the side in the eighth after Kerry Wood retired the only man he faced — Miguel Cabrera — on a popup to end the seventh. Acta said Wood will be back in the closer’s role for the opener of an eight-game trip in Kansas City on Tuesday.

Wood was the loser in his first outing of the season Saturday when he gave up a tiebreaking two-run single to Cabrera in Detroit’s 6-4 win. He had been sidelined since mid-March by a strained muscle in his upper back.

“I’m finally healthy,” Wood said. “I had a better feel for the breaking ball today and pitched back-to-back days for the first time. I never reached that point in spring training.”

Scherzer gave up five runs and nine hits in five innings. The right-hander has a 14.54 ERA over his last 13 innings.

“He was a little better,” manager Jim Leyland said. “He threw a few more good changeups. He made a couple bad pitches, obviously.”