Tigers knock Indians 71/2 back

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The Cleveland Indians’ climb to get back to the AL Central lead just got steeper.

Ubaldo Jimenez pitched seven effective innings, but Doug Fister struck out 13 to lift the division-leading Detroit Tigers to a 4-2 victory Monday.

The second-place Indians dropped to 71/2 games back, their largest deficit of the season. The three-game series continues tonight, which falls into the must-win category for the Tribe.

“We need to be ready to even up the series,” manager Manny Acta said. “This is the most important one. Our effort and our energy should be concentrated on winning tomorrow.”

Acta and the Indians, who have battled injuries to key players all season, know they can’t let the head-to-head matchups with Detroit slip away without gaining ground. The Indians had won seven of 10 coming into the day, but didn’t make up a game in the standings.

“We’ve got enough games left, but the main thing is, this is the only opportunity to really shave the lead,” Acta said. “When you don’t play the team you’re trailing, it takes forever sometimes to [cut] a game. We’ve seen that.”

And the Tigers are playing their best baseball of the season, too. Detroit is 14-4 since holding a 11/2-game lead on Cleveland on Aug. 19. The Tigers began a three-game home sweep of the Indians that night.

The Indians had no answers for Fister (7-13), who allowed an earned run and four hits in eight innings. Failing to make contact is nothing new for Cleveland hitters, who have struck out 1,079 times this season.

“That’s been our M.O.,” Acta said. “We lead the league in strikeouts.”

Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer in the fourth off Jimenez (2-2), sending Cleveland to its fifth straight loss against Detroit.

The home run was Jimenez’s only mistake, but it was enough to beat him.

“That’s hard,” he said. “We’re playing Detroit, the team in first place. You want to make everything perfect. You want to win the game for your team.”

Jimenez struck out five over the first two innings and didn’t yield a hit until Delmon Young singled with one out in the fourth. Miguel Cabrera then walked before Martinez connected for his ninth homer, driving a 2-2 pitch into the right-field seats for a 3-0 lead.

Jimenez, acquired from Colorado at the trade deadline, struck out eight and was charged with three runs and two hits.