Wait ’til next year, Tribe fans: Detroit finishes off 3-game sweep

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Another game slipped away from the Cleveland Indians. The whole series did, in fact.

Rather than move closer to Detroit, the Indians were swept by the AL Central leaders.

Justin Verlander won his 10th straight start and earned his 22nd victory overall, helped when Victor Martinez hit a late grand slam that sent the Tigers over Cleveland 8-6 Wednesday.

Three straight losses left the Indians 91/2 games behind Detroit.

“We just got swept,” said first baseman Shelley Duncan, who hit a pair of two-run homers off Verlander. “We’re a little down right now.”

It’s easy to see why. In less than three weeks, Cleveland has lost eight games in the standings to Detroit, taking the Indians from legitimate contenders to playing for pride in the season’s final 22 games.

“They took care of business and, obviously, we didn’t,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “They’re doing a great job running away from us and beating us head to head.”

Verlander (22-5) survived Duncan’s homers, both of which gave the Indians a two-run lead. Martinez, who haunted his team the entire series, hit a seventh-inning slam off Tony Sipp that erased Cleveland’s 4-3 lead and capped Detroit’s five-run rally.

The loss dropped the Indians back to .500 (70-70) as they begin a 10-game road trip tonight in Chicago.

“We lost all three games, that’s never fun no matter who you’re playing,” Indians starter Justin Masterson said. “We’re going to have to win a lot of ballgames.”

Said Acta: “We can’t give up. Things can change in a week, but you have to start with day one.”

The Indians managed to stay in contention despite going extended periods without several key players, including regulars Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, Michael Brantley, Travis Hafner and Jason Kipnis, as well as starting pitchers Josh Tomlin and Carlos Carrasco.

“These guys have come back from everything,” Acta said. “If we don’t win [tonight], it’s not because this series is lingering. They’ve gone through worse and they have bounced back.”

The Tigers are 16-4 since Aug. 19 and have beaten the Indians seven straight times. Detroit swept three games from the Chicago White Sox prior to this series to take command of the division, but Detroit manager Jim Leyland isn’t ready to declare his team champions.

“So far, we’ve met a head-on challenge pretty good,” he said. “I’m still not going to say anything other than we have put ourselves in good position. Have we accomplished something? Absolutely.”

Masterson (11-9) left after Detroit loaded the bases on two singles around an error in the seventh. Joe Smith came on and gave up an RBI single to Miguel Cabrera that got the Tigers within 4-3.

Sipp replaced Smith and the switch-hitting Martinez turned around to the right side and hit the first pitch into the left-field seats for his second career slam, both against the Indians.